Tis The Season
by TombRaider
Summary: Chapter 23 is up!
1. Meow!

Lara Croft ran a comb through her long, brown hair. She glanced in the mirror and she began to braid the long strands in its normal style. It was the sixteenth of December. Hillary and Bryce were planning to leave the next day to go home for the holidays. Lara finished braiding her hair, tossing the braid behind her and smoothing out a wrinkle on her black tank top. 

She was going to be alone in the house for over a month. Before that fact usually didn't bothered her. She was used to being alone, most times, she loved it. But never on holidays. She always missed her parents, or any of the close friends she had had when she was younger. But now they were all married with children and large households to look after. Lara had stopped fitting in with them a long time ago. Now she was left alone in her mansion.

Bryce and Hillary had both offered to have her spend Christmas with them and their families, but Lara had declined both offers. She loved them both, but she didn't fit in with their families. Lara starred at her reflection. This was the life she had chosen, now she had to live with it.

Lara walked away from the mirror and walked over to her bed. She had Bryce's and Hillary's Christmas presents wrapped and ready to give to them. They always exchanged presents before they went their separate ways for Christmas. Lara sighed before she picked up the gifts and left her room.

***

"Hey Lara." Bryce greeted, looking up from a mechanical toy he was tinkering with. He was sitting in the living, on the floor. He had locked up his area of the house since he was leaving the next day. Hillary was watching him, half out of amusement, and half out of boredom. He had made sure Lara would have no problems while she was alone in the house. 

"Evening, Bryce." Lara said, handing him his present. "Here you go. Merry Christmas." She said with a warm, but incredibly fake smile.

Lara handed the other gift to Hillary, but didn't bother to smile. Hillary knew her too well, and would see right through it.

"Thank you, Lara." Hillary said, accepting the gift.

Bryce had already ripped though the wrapping paper and was opening the small box that the colorful paper had covered. He slid the lid off of the box and took a stack of papers from it. His eyes skimmed the first page before they lit up with excitement.

"Lara! These are the plans for the new M-83B! I don't believe this!" Bryce said, paging through the papers.

"Lara? The M-83B? That new weapon the government is working on?" Hillary asked. "Where did you get the designs for it?"

"I would tell you, Hillary, but then I'd have to kill you." Lara winked at him.

"This is great, Lara. I can't wait to start building it!" Bryce said, happily. "Oh," Bryce took a small remote from the pocket of his jeans. He aimed the remote in the direction of the door to Bryce's work area. Simon walked out with his mechanical grace, scanning the area and recognizing Bryce.

"This is your present, Lara." Bryce said. "I reprogrammed Simon like you wanted me to. Now it won't stop before it takes your head off." Lara smiled at him, even though she doubted that. Bryce treated her like a little sister at times and never made the simulations too dangerous for fear of seriously hurting her. "But don't use live fire this time, or he'll be broken until after the holidays."

"Deal." Lara smiled. After all, it was Christmas. "Now go ahead and open yours, Hillary."

Hillary neatly took the wrapping paper off of the box, folding it into a neat square then took the lid off of his box. He smiled when he saw what was inside.

"What is it?" Bryce asked.

"Victoria Norwood." Hillary said, taking the CD out of the box. "The very first album she ever recorded, there were only two hundred copies of this made. Thank you, Lara." He picked up a large box that was sitting next to him, and handed it to Lara.

Lara took the large red ribbon off the white box then opened it. She smiled with amusement, then, setting the box on the coffee table she took out a long black dress from the box. The dress was form fitting, with a slit running up the left side to the hip. The dress only had one strap, intended to leave one shoulder bare.

"Now, where am I going to wear this to?" Lara asked Hillary.

"Well, I heard that Mr. West is going to be in England for the holidays."

Lara's smile faded. She put the dress back into the box, sliding the lid back on. Bryce glared at Hillary.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. All three looked up. Hillary was the first to get up, but Lara stopped him.

"I'll get it." She said, before walking over to the door and opening it. A UPS man was standing outside.

"Lady Croft?" He asked.

"Yes."

He gave her a clipboard where she signed her name. He then handed her a small box.

"Happy Holidays." The man said before leaving.

Lara closed the door, transfixed by the return address. Alex West. Why in the world would he be sending her a box?

Confused, Lara walked back into the living room.

Bryce glanced at the package then asked; "Who's it from, Lara?"

"Mr. West." Lara said, gritting her teeth at the name. She set the box on the coffee table next to Hillary's present, then, taking a knife from her boot she cut the duck tape that held the box together. There was a letter attached to one of the sides of the box, but Lara saw the contents and forgot that it was there.

"Mew." Said the small kitten that was nestled in the box. Lara lost her balance and fell back onto the floor.

"What is it?" Bryce asked, peering into the box.

"A kitten." Lara murmured. Lara sat up and took the small animal from the box. She set it on the table. But the kitten was too weak to stand on it's own and sank onto the glass surface.

"That poor thing." Hillary said. "It must be in horrible condition after that trip. Mr. West should have known better then mailing a live animal." Hillary shook his head. "I'll fetch it some warm milk."

"Lara, there's a note." Bryce said.

Lara ripped the letter from the side of the box, very interested to hear Alex's explanation for this. She unfolded it and began to read out loud. "Lara. Now that you're over thirty, single and live alone I thought it was time you had a cat. Love, Alex."

Hillary set a small saucer in front of the kitten. He glanced at Lara. He had heard what the letter had said. Bryce glanced at him, then back at Lara. Lara reread the letter several times, in disbelief that even Alex West would be so cruel. But the words on the paper didn't change as she read it over and over again.

"Mew?" The kitten sniffed the warm milk Hillary had given it before it began to lap it up. Lara dropped the letter and looked at the little kitten.

"Lara?" Bryce asked softly. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine." Lara said. She studied the tiny animal. The kitten was a calico, speckled with red, orange and black spots on it's short hair.

"What should we name the kitten?" She asked, looking at Bryce and Hillary.

***

Lara set Donnica, her kitten, on her large bed and she began to change into her nightclothes. The kitten had recovered from it's journey and was purring, happily nestling in Lara's bedspread.

Although the kitten was happy, Lara, on the other hand was quite upset.

_Just who in the bloody hell does Alex think he is?! _Lara thought. _He's also over thirty, single, and lives alone, but I'm not rushing to get him a cat. The utter gall of the man! I should pay him back by making sure he never reproduces. _Lara stopped herself. _Why am I getting so upset? _Lara sat down on her bed. Alex always had this effect on her. Lara laid back on her bed, remembering that one night in America.

She and Alex had recovered some artifacts for a museum and were celebrating at their hotel over champagne and dinner. Both had been drinking too much. Lara had gone to bed before the clock had struck one in the morning. Alex, stayed up a little longer. This had been his first real accomplishment as an archeologist and he was rightfully proud of the success. However, by the time he had decided to go to bed he was so drunk that he had walked into Lara's room, thinking it was his own and crawling into bed with her. Lara had been fast asleep by that time.

When Lara awoke she was laying in Alex's arms. She had panicked at first, thinking that she had slept with him. But then she remembered the night and relaxed. It wasn't that she wasn't attracted to Alex. Because she certainly was. Lara was very careful whom she became intimate with. Although she did like Alex, she knew a relationship between them would never work. They both loved tomb raiding, but that was where their similarities ended. Alex's first, and as Lara thought, only love was money. She knew he would soon become bored with her and move on. She didn't see the point in bothering with a relationship with him.

That was why Lara had gotten out of bed and went into his room to sleep. She had a slight hang over from the champagne, but was still awake and moving around before Alex had gotten out of bed. He didn't remember anything of the pervious night and Lara didn't tell him what happened.

Lara bit her lower lip. If he knew she had feelings for him he might have never stolen her prayer wheel and run off with it. They had had a fight before he had taken it. He had asked her out for a formal date and Lara had declined. Alex West, who was used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it, had been a little upset by her rejection and had asked her in a tone Lara didn't favor why she wouldn't go out with him. Lara didn't tell him the truth. She told him that she was involved with someone else. That, however, had proved to be the wrong thing to do. Alex was furious and clearly jealous. Lara, in her calm way, had refused to tell him the other man's name, which only made Alex angrier. Lara frowned when she remembered the fight. In the end Alex had said that she had been flirting with him for the past three weeks and called her a slut. Lara had punched him, breaking his nose, then stormed out of the room. When she returned Alex was gone and so was her prayer wheel.

Lara crawled under the covers and turned off the small lamp on her nightstand. There wasn't any point in getting upset over Alex West. He was an uncouth swine, a horrible excuse for a man and the only woman who would ever enjoy his company would have to be paid. Satisfied with her deduction, Lara went to sleep.

***

"Mew?" Donnica hopped onto the kitchen counter, curious to see what Lara was doing. Lara sighed and went to the refrigerator to get some milk for  Donnica. The kitten was back to her original strength and was running around the Croft mansion chasing after balls of fluff and some of Bryce's small mechanical toys that Lara had let her play with. Bryce and Hillary had been gone for two days. In that time Lara had sparred with Simon, using blanks, trained on her new assault course, and even started looking into adventures for the next year.

Lara was planning on taking the kitten to the pound but she had gotten rather attached to the little kitten and decided to keep her. Lara poured Donnica a small saucer of milk. Donnica didn't wait until Lara was finished pouring the milk before she started drinking. Lara smiled at her then returned the cartoon of milk to the refrigerator. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Donnica looked up at the noise, then went back to eating. Lara walked over to the security room and glanced at one of the monitors. She didn't believe who she saw standing outside. It was none other then Alex West.

_Not this time, mate. _Lara thought. She walked back to the kitchen. She was not about to let Alex into the house. Not after the kitten. Lara opened the backdoor in the kitchen and walked out to her assault course. One way to get her mind off anything was to run her assault course.

***

Alex rang the doorbell again. "Lara?" He called though the door. He was greeted by silence. _Damn it! _He thought. He knew she was home. _She still must be angry about the kitten._ Alex glanced around, then saw the garden door leading to the assault course.

He walked through the open door onto the course. He glanced at the flowers he was holding. They were for Lara, but they seemed pretty useless now. He continued walking the assault course until he spotted Lara. She was climbing up to a set of boxes.

"Lara?" Alex asked.

Lara almost lost her concentration when she heard Alex's voice. She had expected him to go away, but she climbed to the top of the box and sat down. Looking at Alex.

"Hi Lara." He said.

"You do realize that you're trespassing on private property, don't you?" Lara asked, taking out one of her guns and cocking it.

"Whoa, Lara, I come in peace. Put the artillery away." Alex said, putting his hands up in surrender.

Lara glanced at the flowers he was holding, then back at him.

"Uh, these are for you. If you come down here, I'll give them to you." Alex said, blushing.

"No, thank you." Lara said. She stood up and began to continue running the assault course.

"Lara!" Alex called. "I want to talk to you." He said as Lara leapt to the next set of boxes. Lara ignored him and began to monkey swing across a large gap. Alex followed her, still holding the flowers.

"Come on, Lara. Don't be like this, I'm sorry about the kitten, okay?"

"Mr. West, I suggest you leave before you start to annoy me." Lara said. She leapt to another set of boxes.

"Damn it, Lara." Alex set the flowers down and began to climb the boxes after her. However, he wasn't wearing the right shoes for the climb and lost his footing. Alex swore as he fell off of the boxes. He landed on his backside in the sand. Feeling sorry for him, Lara hopped off of the boxes and offered him her hand. Alex took it as she pulled him up. 

Once Alex was on his feet, he moved closer to her. Breathing in her scent. It seemed the moment was frozen in time. Lara remembered night she spent in his arms, feeling his body next to hers. Alex looked her over. Her lovely features, her clear and calm eyes, her lips that begged him to kiss her. He remembered what it was like to be close to her. More accurately, he imagined what it would be like to be close to her, holding her tightly, the feel of her hair against his shoulder.

"Get off my property, Alex." Lara said.

"I'm trying to apologize to you, Lara. Would you give me a chance?" Alex asked.

"Go ahead then." Lara said.

"Do you think we could do this inside? It's a little cold out here."

"If you think I'm inviting you into my home you are gravely mistaken, Mr. West."

"Don't be a bitch, Lara."

"And you would know about being a bitch, now wouldn't you, Alex?"

Alex was about to say something when he stopped himself, closing his eyes and trying to think of something to tell her. "Alright. I guess I deserved that." Alex said.

"Yes, you did." Lara said. "Now, if you don't mind, I was running my assault course."

"Yes, I do mind, Lara. I want to talk to you."

"About what?"

"I don't know. About. . . anything. . . or. . . ." Alex trailed off.

"I don't have the desire, or the time, Mr. West. Now why don't you go home for the holidays? Hmmm?" Lara began to walk away.

"I don't have a home to go to." Alex said. Although his voice was soft, Lara heard him clearly. She turned around, looking at him. An obvious look of pain was etched in his face.

"Don't." Lara said. "Don't even try it." She narrowed her eyes into two deadly slits.

"Try what?" Alex asked.

"Don't even try to gain my sympathy by going there Alex, I'm not in the mood."

"What makes you think I'm trying to gain your sympathy? I was telling the truth."

"Alex," Lara began flatly, "you have a large family with a vast number relatives. Or have you forgotten about them?"

"They asked me not to come this Christmas." Alex said, not able to meet Lara's gaze.

"Why not?"

"Look, it's kind of personal and-"

"Why not?" Lara repeated.

"They found out about the illuminati. My dad didn't want a criminal conspirator to be around his family."


	2. What does 'wally' mean anyways?

Lara shifted her weight. She wasn't quiet sure if she should trust him. He looked sincere, however that was little consolation for his pervious lies.

"Look, Lara, I just came to apologize to you about the cat. I didn't expect you to really forgive me. I mean, if I was you, I wouldn't forgive me either."

He paused, looking at her for help. Lara raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I guess I better be going then. . ."Alex trailed off, unhappily. "Um, it was nice talking to you, Lara." He turned around and began to walk away from her.

"Alex." Lara called. "Wait."

He turned around, a hopeful look in his eyes. "Yeah?" He asked.

Lara's expression turned sheepish. "Have you eaten?"

"No." He smiled.

Lara made her way to the kitchen door. "Come along then." She said. Alex trotted to the door, grinning from ear to ear.

"Close the door after you." Lara instructed. She took the flowers that Alex was still holding and went to find a vase for them. Alex looked around the kitchen.

"Good God, this place is bigger then my apartment." He said. Donnica hopped onto the counter and walked over to inspect Alex. "Hey there, kitty." He said, scratching Donnica behind her ears. "So where are your side kicks?" Alex asked, looking around. He knew Bryce didn't like him at all.

"They're at home for the holidays." Lara answered. She filled a vase she had found with water then slid the flowers into it.

"Why aren't you home for the holidays?" Alex asked.

"You Americans are always so nosy."

"Hey!" Alex said indignantly. "Your tabloids are worse then ours. I mean, seriously, I don't care if David Beckham wears his wife's underwear."

Lara chuckled.

"So answer my question." Alex persisted. "Where's your family?"

"Dead."

"All of them?"

Lara nodded. "Look, I really don't feel like telling you my life story right now, Alex."

"You still don't trust me, do you?"

"How can you expect me to? Especially after you stole my prayer wheel." She added.

"Would you forget the damn prayer wheel thing?" Alex demanded.

"No." Lara stated. "You completely betrayed me and for a few hundred pounds. Now tell me which is worth more."

"Lara, I'm sorry about that. I was just mad and I did something stupid and by the time I calmed down it was too late." Alex walked over to Lara, gently touching her shoulders. "It's Christmas, can't we burry the hatchet for a little while."

"Of course." Lara smiled a warm smile at him. "Now which part of your body would you like the hatchet buried in?"

Alex laughed. "And people say you Brits have no sense of humor." Donnica mewed at Alex. He picked her up, holding her tiny body in his hand.

"Did you name her?" Alex asked.

"Donnica." Lara said.

"That's a nice name." Donnica purred as Alex scratched her under her chin.

"Now, would you like some lunch?" Lara asked.

"Sure." Alex smiled. "I had no idea that you could cook."

"Well, not really." Lara walked over to the refrigerator. "Truth is I can bearly microwave things. However, I can assemble a rather good bacon buttie."

Alex's eyes widened. "A what?"

"Oh, a sandwich." Lara glanced at him. "What did you think I meant?"

"Uh, nothing." Alex said, innocently. "Nothing at all. . ."

***

"So, what was your first Tomb Raiding experience?" Lara asked. She took a lady like bite of her sandwich.

"Well, it was an accident really." Alex said, wiping some crumbs from his face. Alex and Lara were sitting at the small kitchen table. Lara had her feet propped up on a chair with Donnica sleeping in her lap.

"I was going caving with a few friends right when we got out of college and we kinda ignored the regular path and we ended up getting lost. Then after a few hours we stumbled across this weird stone door way with a really old wooden door. Since we had no idea where we were, we decided to see what was behind it. You'll never guess what it was." Alex said.

"A vacation spot for washed up actors?"

"Nope. It was an Incan tomb."

Lara raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed. How much money did you make from that discovery?"

Alex sighed. "My only interest isn't money, Lara."

"You had me fooled."

"Well, maybe if you stopped assuming things about me and starting learning about me then you would know better."

"Hmm, touché, Mr. West." Lara grinned at him.

Alex took another bite of his sandwich. "So are you-"

"Don't talk with your mouth full. It's not polite." Lara corrected.

Alex swallowed his food. "Thanks mom." He mocked. "Now, as I was saying, are you going to give me a guided tour of your house?"

"No. I still don't trust you, Alex." Lara said.

"Come on, Lara. What do I have to do to get you to trust me?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps you should figure that out."

"Alright look." Alex reached into his pocket, pulling several items out. "Here is my passport, car keys and my wallet with all the money I've got in cash. If you still don't trust me then keep it and I'll walk back to my empty apartment."

Lara didn't say anything. She picked up Alex's passport and began to page through it. Suddenly, Lara chuckled. "This is quiet a flattering picture Alex." She said, once she had found the small color photo of him.

"I was having a bad hair day, alright?" He said, blushing.

Lara set his passport back onto the table. "I'll trust you for now, Alex. But don't get use to it."

"So, now are you going to show me around?" Alex asked.

"I guess." Lara brushed a strand of her hair back. Despite Alex West's pervious record there was something that was very charismatic and likable about him. Lara couldn't help but like him. Just a little.

***

"You're lying!" Lara half shouted half laughed.

"No, I'm not." Alex insisted. "I met her."

"You did not! I mean, out of all people how could Melanie C know who you are? She's a bloody Spice Girl!"

"She knew who I was and she was nice too! Very sweet." Alex took another sip from his half empty glass of champagne.

Lara and Alex were in the library sitting on the floor in front of a roaring fire. The sun had set several hours ago leaving the Croft estate in darkness. When the sun was setting the two had gone to the library to have a drink. Four empty bottles of champagne later the two were sprawled out on the floor of the library telling each other about famous people that they met.

"Melanie C said that I was the most handsome wally she had ever seen." Alex bragged.

Lara stared at him in disbelief for a second before her shocked expression dissolved into laughter. She rolled onto her back her entire body shaking in laughter.

"I didn't think it was that funny." Alex said, reaching for one of the bottles of champagne. He turned the bottle over only to find that it was empty. He moved on to the next bottle with the same results. Alex frowned. He couldn't remember which bottle still contained champagne. Finally, Lara poured some more alcohol into his glass in between chuckles.

"You don't know what a wally is, do you?" Lara asked.

"I thought it meant 'stud' or something like that." Alex admitted.

"Blinded by your own ego. What a cliché." Lara laughed.

"Hey! What does 'wally' mean anyways?"

"She called you an idiot, Alex."

Alex blushed a deep red as Lara continued to laugh.

"Those Spice Girls aren't so bad, huh?"

"Well, she did say I was handsome." Alex grumbled.

Lara laughed again. "A handsome idiot. I think that describes you perfectly."

"So you think I'm handsome too?" Alex asked, smiling.

"No, I just think you're an idiot." Lara suddenly realized how close Alex was to her. She could feel his warm breath against her face. Lara smiled at him. She felt so warm and light headed. She glanced at the bottle of champagne that was in her hand. It was nearly empty. Where did it all go?

***

Lara awoke feeling warm and happy. A comfortable dream like haze encompassed her. She didn't open her eyes and rolled over. 

_Why does my bed feel so hard? _Lara wondered. _The library. _She realized. She remembered seeing a stack of books before she drifted off to sleep. Suddenly, Lara felt a hand massaging the small of her back. She opened her eyes and tilted her head up.

"Good morning." Alex smiled at her.

Lara screamed and rolled away from him, she struggled into a sitting position, staring at him like he was a fire breathing dragon.

"Whoa, Lara, calm down." Alex said, sitting up himself with an alarmed expression on his face.

Lara looked around. The fire in the fire place had long since burnt out. Several empty bottles of champagne littered the floor, accompanied by two empty glasses of champagne that were laying on their sides next to the fire place. But most important to Lara, they both still had their clothes on.

_Just my bloody luck! How the hell could this have happened to me twice with the same man?! _Lara thought frantically. _This better not be because of that mirror I accidentally broke last month. So help me, I'll buy every damn rabbits foot I can get my hands on!_

"Lara, what's wrong?" Alex asked.

"Nothing. Nothing, I'm fine." Lara lied.

"Come here." Alex motioned for her to lay back down with him.

She stared at him for a second. "I've got to check on Donnica." She said, before shakily making it to her feet and practically running out of the room. Lara walked back to her bedroom, closing the door after her to shut out Alex West. Donnica was curled up on Lara's bedspread. Donnica glanced at her owner and stretched.

"Lara?" Alex wandered into her room, looking around until he spotted Lara. He stared at her for a second. "Why did you take off like that?" He finally asked.

"Mr. West, it's very rude to brag into a lady's bedroom uninvited." Lara told him.

"Cut the bullshit, Lara." Alex said. "What is wrong with you?"

"Mr. West, you can't around telling women that there's something wrong with them simply because they don't leap into bed with you."

"Stop calling me 'Mr. West'.''

"Fine. Alex."

"And I didn't mean that there's something wrong with you because we haven't slept together," Alex corrected, "what I meant was, why did you freak out like you did?"

"I'm sorry, Alex. But yours is not a face I want to wake up to."

"Is this about the prayer wheel?" Alex asked, shifting his weight.

"Forget about the blasted prayer wheel!" Lara snapped.

"Okay, then what exactly makes me so completely undesirable to you?" Alex asked in a sarcastic voice.

"Alex, I just don't take romantic relationships as lightly as you do."

"I didn't ask you to marry me for crying out loud. What are you so afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything, Alex."

"I beg to differ. You're so wrapped up in your own little world that you're afraid to let anyone else in because you think they'll some how screw it all up."

Lara stared at him in utter disbelief, desperately trying to find something to say. "You. . . you. . . cad!" Lara shouted. "I can't believe that you have the audacity to. . . to. . ."

"Tell you the truth?" Alex finished her sentence. Lara was flustered and Alex had decided to milk this for all it is worth. "You really surprise me, Lara. Too proud to admit that you actually need other people?"

Lara glared at him. _Calm down. _She told herself. _You're letting him get the better of you._ "Alex, you bearly know me, you have no right to judge me." Lara said softly.

"You might want to try taking your own advice, Lara, because you do that all the time to me." Alex snapped.

"Really Alex? I thought you were nothing but a money hungry swine and at first chance you ran off with my prayer wheel and sold it to the highest bidder."

"And I think that you're a cold hearted cynic that secretly wants companionship and the first chance you get you cut me off and shove me away from you. Now who's the hypocrite!?" Alex thundered.

Lara was about to say something when she heard a loud crash and an equally loud meow. Lara looked around.

"Donnica?" She asked. Lara went into her large bathroom and found Donnica sitting in the middle of a circle of glass that once was a small soap dish that she kept on the sink. Donnica cried again. Lara scooped her up, which was when she noticed the blood on the bathroom floor.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked, poking his head into the bathroom.

"It's Donnica. She's bleeding. Bugger. I've got to get her to a vet." Lara said. She wrapped a wailing Donnica in a clean hand towel.

"Shit. Let's take my car." Alex said, heading out of the room.


	3. Steak and spiked milk

Lara sighed, leaning against the back of the uncomfortable blue chair in the vet's waiting room. She stretched and began massaging a painful crick from the back of her neck. Lara closed her burning eyes. She wanted to go home and go to sleep. Suddenly, a warm hand slid under hers and began massaging her neck.

"Alex." Lara murmured, she glanced at him.

"What?" Alex asked, innocently. He ran the pad of his thumb down the back of her neck.

"Do you mind?" Lara asked. She removed his hand, setting it back onto his lap.

"Oh. Sorry." Alex muttered.

The two had been sitting in her vet for several hours. Most of it was due to the fact Lara and Donnica weren't registered to that vet and Lara had to fill out a pile of paper work. Not to mention that she had to explain what happened to Donnica several times only to receive dirty looks from the girl at the desk who only twirled her over bleached hair and said all of the doctors were busy at that moment.

Donnica had wailed and bleed until the girl at the desk finally looked up from her romance novel and got a doctor. After that Lara and Alex were told that Donnica would have to have the piece of glass surgically removed since it was s deeply wedged into her paw. Lara already didn't like the doctor, who somehow blamed Lara for the receptionist making her wait.

Now Lara and Alex were in the waiting room bored out of their minds. Lara yawned. She was still tired and exhausted from the pervious night. Although she was still wondering about Alex. It seemed strange that he would stay with her and wait for her kitten to be treated. But he was sitting right beside her, staring off into space, combing through his bangs with his fingers and glancing at Lara every so often.

Alex leaned closer to Lara. "So, what do you want for dinner?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Lara asked.

"Well, since you cooked for me last night, I thought I could return the favor tonight."

"You can cook?" Lara asked, amused.

"Of course. I won a cooking contest in college."

"Really? Well, that sounds very inviting, Alex." Lara yawned again.

"You still tired?"

"Yes. I only slept five hours last night." Lara murmured. The two sat in silence for several seconds. Lara glanced over at him. The last thing she remembered was his blue eyes, the friendly scent of his shirt and the warmth from his body.

***

"Lara? Baby, wake up." Lara slowly opened her eyes. She looked around, disoriented. Suddenly she realized that she had been asleep, resting her head on Alex's shoulder. His arm was around her waist, holding his close.

"Hmmm?" Lara murmured, running a hand through her hair.

"Donnica's ready." Alex murmured. "The doc is bringing her out now."

"Oh." Lara sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What time is it?" She asked, glancing out one of the large windows of the waiting room into the dark night.

"It's about seven. Come on." Alex stood, pulling Lara to her feet.

A doctor entered the waiting room holding Donnica who was wrapped in a clean white towel. He glanced at Lara before talking over to her and handing her the buddle.

"Here you are Miss, if our receptionist has all of your paper work then you're free to go." The doctor said.

Alex glanced at the doctor's name tag. "Thanks, Dr. Willard." He shook his hand, politely.

Lara stroked Donnica behind her ears. Donnica didn't budge. Lara murmured her kitten's name and lifted her chin, however, as soon as Lara removed her finger Donnica's head lulled back onto Lara's arm.

"Bloody hell. What did you do to her?!" Lara demanded.

"It's just some painkillers that I gave her. They will wear off in a few hours. Besides, she stopped talking when I gave them to her." The doctor said. "Now, I'd like Donnica to come in for a check up in a week to see how she's doing. I also want you to try to keep her from strenuous physical exercise for several days and make sure her bandage stays tight. If you notice any excessive bleeding or anything like that then I want you to call me immediately." The doctor handed Alex a packet. "This has all the instructions you need to follow and also some tips on raising kittens. I'll see you next week then. Call and make an appointment anytime you like. Until then, I have another patient. Good evening."

"Evening." Lara muttered.

She and Alex walked out to Alex's jeep. He held open the door for Lara. She smiled at him, very amused at his stroke of chivalry. She slid into the jeep, holding Donnica against her.

"So, what did you want for dinner?" Alex asked.

***

Donnica gave the piece of steak one more tug with her small teeth. It from the serving plate and onto the floor. Donnica pounced on it and began dragging her prize into the living room.

Lara looked up from her glass of milk and saw the tiny kitten pulling the large piece of meat behind her. Instead of getting mad at her for stealing the food, she laughed. She took another sip of the milk, still chuckling. Alex glanced at the kitten and began to laugh as well.

After coming home from the vet Alex had made a delicious meal for the two. Lara was beyond impressed with his culinary abilities. Even though when Lara had declined wine, not wanting a repeat of the pervious night, and Alex had handed her a glass of milk. With tongue firmly in cheek, Lara took a sip and smiled at him.

Now they had eaten, talked and exchanged embossing stories with each other. Lara couldn't believe how much she was enjoying his company. When she looked past his obvious love of money and the rumors of his pervious relationships she found him to be a real person. A real person who was falling for. . .

Lara took another sip of the milk and glanced at him. Yes, Alex had his flaws, but there was something underneath the first impression you got from him that was practically magnetic. Lara glanced at the glass of milk. This had to be spiked. Her thoughts were never this incoherent.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Alex asked.

"My thoughts are worth much more then a penny, Alex." Lara answered.

"Come on, Lara. What are you thinking about?"

"Well, I was wondering why I feel like I'm falling for you."

"Hmmm, maybe because you are." Alex grinned his Cheshire cat grin.

"I doubt that, Alex. I never fall that easily."

"Maybe because you never met anyone like me before."

"You know what Alex? I have an idea." Lara said.

"Your room or do you just wanna drop on the floor and go for it right here?"

Lara laughed. "Not even close. How about a little night run on my assault course? If you're up to it, that is."

"Well, not as much fun as sex, but I'm game."

"Great! I'll go grab the flares." Lara practically skipped out of the room. She found a pack of flares in her storage closet next to Bryce's computer area. She walked back through the kitchen, pulling Alex from his chair by the kitchen table and walking him out to the assault course.

Once outside, Lara lit up a flare. Alex looked around the course then back at Lara.

"You know, you look really sexy in flare light." He grinned.

"Come along, Mr. West." Lara said, taking his arm and walking with him towards the beginning of the assault.

"By the way, I have a pack of condoms in my car. . . . Just incase you want to know."

"Alex!" Lara chided.

"What?" Alex asked, innocently.

"You need to cool off."

"Well, I know one way to solve that problem." Alex smiled, pulling Lara's hips against his.

"Hmm, I know another way." With that, Lara shoved Alex into one the waist deep pools that she used on her assault course. Alex screamed as he hit the icy cold water.

"Lara!" He shouted failing helplessly in the water.

She could bearly stop laughing to answer him. "What Alex?"

"I can't swim!" He screamed.

Lara walked over to the edge of the pool. "You can to, you part."

Suddenly, Lara felt a hand wrapped around her ankle and pulled her from dry land and into the water. Lara screamed as she joined Alex in the pool. He pulled her all the way in, making sure that she was as soaked as he was. After Alex was satisfied that she was as wet as he was he pulled her against he side of the pool, pinning her with his body. Lara stopped giggling when she felt the heat from him and could feel his warm breath against her face. 

Suddenly, without warning, Alex kissed her. Not a sweet and modest kiss that Lara was used to receiving. Alex's kiss was something that Lara had never experienced. Full of a heat and passion that was foreign to her. But just when Lara didn't think this kiss could possibly get any better, Alex parted her lips and slipped his tongue into her mouth.

After the intoxicating kiss had come to an end Alex smiled at her and said; "Nope. Still not cooled off." With that he climbed out of the pool. Lara sat there for several seconds not realizing what had just happened. Then she looked down and realized that she was up to her shoulders in ice cold water.

Lara went in to find that Alex had already claimed one of the guest rooms and was taking a shower. Her teeth chattered. Lara padded up to her room and did the same. Afterwards she sat in front of her mirror, staring at he reflection. Now what was she supposed to do? She couldn't admit that she liked Alex. . . and his kisses for fear of this turning out to be a fling, or maybe he just wanted to kiss her, or maybe. . . Lara stopped herself. Her life had suddenly turned into an episode of "Sex And The City". But with that thought aside, what was she going to do?


	4. Pansy Isadora Madison

***

Lara picked up the portable phone that lay on her nightstand. She punched in a familiar number and pressed the phone to her ear. The sound of the phone ringing greeted her ears. _Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up. _Lara chanted inside of her head.

Finally the phone stopped ringing and a sleep voice asked; "Yeah?"

Lara was about to start blurting out her problems to her best friend when she noticed something. The voice was male.

"Uh, is Isis there?" She stuttered.

"Yeah, hold on." The voice said.

"Hello?" Another voice asked after a brief pause.

"Isis?" Lara asked.

"Lara?" Isis responded.

"Who was that man?"

"My new boyfriend." Isis smiled. Isis, who's full name was Pansy Isadora Madison and had assumed the nick name of Isis, was seemingly, Lara's only female friend. Isis was an American that Lara met while on Holiday in the states. They had become instant friends after Isis had given Lara directions to a gun and ammunition shop. Isis was a gun lover herself and had come with Lara to admire the weapons that her criminal record wouldn't let her purchase. 

Her friendship with Lara blossomed over the years. It felt nice to finally have someone to talk to about anything. Including men. Although Hillary had taken care of Lara ever since she was a little girl Lara had never been able to confide in him about certain things.

"So, Lara, what's on your mind?" Isis asked.

"I've got a problem." Lara said. "To put it lightly."

"Wash it and see a doctor immediately."

"Not _that_ kind of a problem."

"What kind of a problem then?"

"Man problems."

"Ooo, I'm hooked. Do tell, Lara."

"Well. . . You know Alex West, right?"

"Of course. Who could forget a body like that? So what about Alex West?"

"He's at my house."

Isis gasped. "Lara, you naughty girl!"

"We haven't slept together!" Lara hissed.

"Then what are you calling me about?"

"Because I want to sleep with him." Lara clamped her hand over her mouth. "No! No, that's not what I meant!"

"Get over it Lara, even I want to sleep with him."

"Isis, I don't know what to do. I fancy him, but I can't exactly go hopping into bed with him."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know if he's serious about a relationship and I don't want to end up with a broken heart as a Christmas present."

"So you're serious about him?"

"Yes. I think so."

"And you think he's just looking for a Christmas fling?"

"With a track record like his that's what I'm lead to believe."

"Is there a lot of sexual tension?"

"Well, no, not until last night anyways."

"What happened last night?"

"He kissed me."

"Ooo, how does he kiss?"

"Isis!"

"Come on, it's a valid question, now fess up, how is our little boy at kissing?"

"Excellent." Lara admitted, miserably.

"Well, as far as I see right now, you've got three options."

"Which are?"

"One. Go right down stairs and lay him like he's never been laid before, then keep him around until he's not able to fulfill your sexual whims, and throw him out on that nice ass of his."

"What are the other options?" Lara sighed.

"Two. Throw him out right now and spend Christmas alone and miserable and have him call you a bitch for the rest of your life and end up an old maid with four cats and a bad attitude."

"What else?"

"Three. Act completely normally and see what happens."

"Right, I'll take that one."

"Come on girl, why don't you just go for it? I mean, when was the last time you had good sex?"

"Last month."

"Lara."

"A few months."

"Lara."

"Last year."

          "Lara."

"Alright, alright! It's been three years. Are you happy?!"

"Come on, Lara. I mean, you're not a nun for crying out loud!"

"I can't go around sleeping with just anyone. I wasn't brought up like that. Not to mention that you've got into plenty of problems with your promiscuity."

"Yeah, yeah, but I've had more fun."

"If you say so."

Isis laughed. "Have fun Lara. And don't do anything that I wouldn't do."

"I very much doubt that that would ever happen, but I will keep it in mind."

"Bye-bye Lara. Good luck."

"Good-bye Isis." Lara hung up the phone.

She sat down on the end of her bed and thought for a second. _See what happens, eh?_ Lara mused. _Might as well._

Lara walked down stairs. Donnica was curled up on one of the white recliners in the living room. She looked up when she saw Lara. Donnica stretched and mewed at her.

"Hello there." Lara said, picking up her kitten. She checked her paw. The bandage was marked with Donnica's teeth marks but was still serving it's purpose. Lara carried Donnica into kitchen, setting her on the floor by the refrigerator while she poured a saucer of warm milk for her. After filling the saucer she set it down in front of the kitten.

"Good morning." Alex said, walking into the kitchen. Lara looked up and gripped the edge of the counter to keep her balance when she saw Alex. There was only a towel wrapped around his waist. Although she had seen him completely nude before, she had been expecting that and had used every ounce of self control to remain completely serious during that episode.

"Ummm, Alex? Where are your clothes?" Lara asked.

"They're dirty. I've got some clean clothes in the trunk of my car though. I was going to get them after breakfast." Alex leaned over Lara, kissing her lips quickly. "So, what would you like?" He asked.

_To go to bed with you right now. _"Eggs?"

"Scrambled?"

_Loose the towel? _"Certainly." 

"Is there any bacon?"

_Oh yes. . . _"I think so. But Alex, wouldn't you like to put some clothes on first?" 

"Nah. Besides, I usually cook naked at home anyways."

_Don't tease me. . ._ "Oh. I'm going to go. . . uh, have a quick work out. Call me when breakfast is ready, please."

"Sure, Lara."

Lara walked out onto her assault course. _Maybe Isis was right. Maybe I should just go for it._ Lara looked around. She felt like running. Running always cleared her head. She scaled the giant stone walls of the grounds. Although it was a strange place to run, Lara found it quiet and also made the run a little more challenging with a thirty foot drop to deal with if she strayed from her regular path. With that thought, Lara took off.

***

Alex glanced out of the kitchen window, watching Lara run on top of the ground walls. He smiled. She was by far the most amazing woman that he had ever met. Intelligent, funny, loved adventure, was independent, and not to mention beautiful. She was acting a little strange though. He wasn't quite sure if she really trusted him, really liked him or was just nervous due the rumors surrounding his pervious girlfriends and their relationships. Most of them were brainless arm candy that he only kept around to make public appearances. But Lara was the complete opposite.

The bacon grease bubbled and demanded Alex's attention. He tended to the pan while he let his thoughts wander. What would it be like to date Lara Croft? What was he saying? It would be heaven. But Alex doubted that a British lady like Lara would ever date him. He sighed and looked up as Lara made another round past the large kitchen windows.

Donnica hopped into the kitchen counter, distracting Alex. She mewed and sniffed at the bacon that Alex had just taken out of the pan.

"None for you, Donni." Alex said. Donnica sat on her hind legs and looked innocently at Alex. She mewed at him again before the lifted her wounded paw and began to bite at her bandage.

"Hey, the doctor told you not to do that." Alex said, gently taking her paw away from her teeth. Donnica bit Alex's hand instead.

"Ow! Donnica, lay off." He picked out a piece of bacon and tore off a strip. "Here, now go away." He tossed the bacon onto the floor, Donnica pounced on it and began to drag it off in the direction of the living room.

"Breakfast ready yet?"

Alex jumped at the voice. Lara was dapping the sweat off of her forehead with a clean towel as she walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, just a sec." Alex said. He took a plate and arranged the eggs and bacon onto it, handing the plate to Lara.

"Looks delicious." Lara said. "Um, the food that is. . . Uh." Lara added.

Alex snickered. He set some eggs and bacon for himself and joined Lara at the kitchen table. 


	5. All the pain Robert can bring

"So, Lara. . ." Alex said, trailing off as he speared a piece of egg.

"Yes?" Lara asked.

"Truth or dare?"

Lara shot him a side ways glance. "Truth."

"Oh, how did I know you were going to pick that?" Alex smiled. "Hmmm. . ." He thought for several seconds before asking; "How many men have you slept with?"

"What? Do you mean in the last month? Or ever?"

"Ever."

"Alex, I hardly think this is appropriate breakfast conversation." Lara chided.

"Come on, Lara. You didn't pick the dare, so spill. How many?"

"Four."

"Four?!" Alex nearly shouted. "You have got to be joking!"

"Why?"

"Are you celibate or something? Four, damn."

"Well, Mr. West I wasn't brought up to treat sex so casually."

"So tell me about these four guys."

"You want to hear about my ex-boyfriends?"

"Yeah."

"I thought men hated that."

"They only hate it when they can't measure up to them. I have yet to meet a man that surpasses me."

"Well, I must admit, I've never met a man with an ego as quiet as large as yours. You better be careful Alex, someone might think you're compensation for something." Her eyes briefly flickered to his crotch before returning to his gaze.

"Hey, that was below the belt, sweetie. Now you've _got_ to tell me about these four guys."

"Well, the fourth one was a nice lawyer that I met when the Animal Rights Society took me to court because I shot a few endangered tigers. They didn't count the fact that they were intent on mauling me to death, but getting back to the story. After the case we went out several times and got involved, shall we say."

"What happened to him?"

"I sort of realized that he wasn't staying with me because he actually liked me. He was pretty much infatuated and wanted me as a trophy girlfriend. So I broke up with him. A few months later he died in a car accident. His bitchy sister didn't even invite me to the funeral." Lara added, taking another bite from her eggs.

"And bachelor number three?"

"Not much to tell. He was a nice man. Sweet, caring. We were both too busy to spend time together really. Come to think of it, I think we only slept together once. But then he met another woman who cooked, cleaned and waiting on him hand and foot and eloped with her. I really didn't care though. We always had argument over tomb raiding. He wanted me to stop and become a house wife."

"For some odd reason, I can't picture you as a house wife. Might be the gun room. . ." Alex smiled.

"Well, bachelor number two didn't mind my gun room. In fact, he was a tomb raider himself. We were together for nearly two years. I was thinking about marrying him."

"What happened to him?"

"He died while tomb raiding." Lara paused. She felt the tears welling in her eyes. She had always cried when she thought about him. "I was devastated. I cried over him for weeks."

"Sorry." Alex said, gently rubbing the pad of his thumb against the open palm of her hand which rest on the table.

"It's alright now." Lara murmured. "At least he died doing what he loved."

There was a brief silence as Alex continued to caress her palm.

"What about bachelor number one?" He finally asked.

"Robert." Lara said softly.

"What happened with him?"

"Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it was a dysfunctional relationship to begin with. We started dating the day I turned eighteen. He was thirty-nine or so. Robert was friends with my father before he died. He trusted him with his life." Lara paused remember when she used to sneak downstairs when she was a little girl after she had been put to bed and would listen to her father and Robert talk. She rarely understood what they were saying. "Robert used to come and visit me after my father died. He was a nice man, but he was always telling me to forget about tomb raiding and adventures. He said it all died with my father. I was still a child then, and without anyone else to look up to, I did as he said. I didn't realize it then but he was trying to mold me into his ideal wife."

"Didn't work, huh?"

"Well, it did for a few years anyways. Hillary had become my legal guardian he moved into the manor after father died. He tried to keep Robert away from me because he knew what he was trying to do, but Robert always managed to see me. Well, anyways, we started dating, I had never dated anyone before, thanks to both Hillary and Robert's insistence so I had no idea what to expect out of a relationship. Robert took full advantage of that fact. We dated for almost two years when he asked me to marry him. I stupidly said 'yes'. That was also the night I lost my virginity to him."

"Lucky bastard." Alex muttered.

"Alex." Lara chastised.

"Sorry, go on."

"Well, we were planning, well, actually, Robert was planning to marry in the summer. But over the period of our engagement I found out that he was sleeping with another woman, on the side, as he put it."

"Did you beat him to a bloody pulp?" Alex asked, in blood thirsty anticipation.

"I did nothing of the sort. I cried instead. He didn't seem to feel bad though. I just sat in his office and sobbed my eyes out while he went on working like I wasn't even there. Then I told him that I wanted to break off the engagement. I didn't mean it, I was just upset and I felt incredibly betrayed."

"What did Robert do?"

"Well, needless to say, we got into an argument. Robert had always had a bad temper, but this was the first time that it was directed at me. We continued fighting, then, when he had finally had enough, he hit me."

"What?! That asshole hit you?!" Alex demanded, sitting up.

"Yes. It wasn't very hard though. I ran out of the room and went home after that. Hillary was appalled when I told him what happened. I'm not entirely sure what happened after that though. Hillary told me later that Robert had come by and rang and sent flowers and things like that to apologize for what he did, but Hillary wouldn't admit Robert into the house, hung up all his calls and threw the flowers out before I saw them."

"Can't say that he didn't deserve it." Alex shrugged.

"I, however, would have liked to know that he was making an effort to contact me. I was so heartbroken when I thought that he wasn't even bothering to try and talk to me. I had his engagement ring sent back to him. That was were I thought our relationship would have ended, but, a month or two after I sent back the engagement ring, he committed suicide. It was around Christmas time. Hillary gave me a letter that was found on his desk. It was addressed to me, Robert had written it before he died." Lara whipped the tears from her eyes.

"What did it say?" Alex asked, softly.

"It was horrible. He blamed me for his death, he said such awful things to me. I became completely depressed. I didn't come out of my room for weeks. I kept thinking that the entire thing was my fault, that if I hadn't been so unforgiving that I would have been married and having a wonderful life right now. . ." Lara trailed off, she hung her head in her hands, letting her tears run down her cheeks. She couldn't stop her tears from falling. 

Alex slid out of his seat and sat down beside Lara, pulling her into his lap. Lara buried her face in his bare shoulder, sobbing. She remembered the three weeks she spent, calling herself a murderess, an ungrateful whore. She had felt so horrible about his death and was left with no one to blame but herself. Alex gently stroked her back, cradling her smaller frame against his body. He murmured soft words into her ear, holding her tightly.

"I'm sorry, Alex." Lara said through her tears. "I don't mean to be such a cry baby."

"Hey, it's okay, Lara. You were just a kid, that jerk had no right to blame you for anything. He sounds like a crusty old pervert anyways." Alex commented.

Lara laughed.

"By the way Lara, doesn't it worry you that three out of four of your ex-lovers are dead?" Alex asked, stoking her shoulders.

"I thought that fact might worry _you_ a bit more." Lara said.

Alex smiled and wiped the tears from Lara's eyes. "So, it's your turn, Lady Croft."

"Truth or dare?" She murmured, regaining her composure.

"Truth." Alex smiled.

Lara wiped the rest of her tears from her cheeks and wrapped her arms around Alex's neck. "Have you even been in love before?" She asked.

Alex's smile quickly faded. "Yeah, once." He said, resting his head against Lara's shoulder.

"Tell me about her." Lara murmured.

"Lara. . ."

"Come on, I told you about Robert. So, tell me about her."

"Her name was Pricilla. She was British too."

"What was she like?"

"Well, she was wonderful. I mean, she was smart and cute and she loved animals, loved adventure. We were together for about three years. I was so happy, I thought I had finally found someone that I could spend my life with."

"What happened?"

"I asked her to marry me."

"Did she say 'yes'?"

"No. She said that she was flattered and she would always remember me but she felt that it wasn't the right time and she needed to date more men before she finally decided on one. Then she left me. I haven't heard from her since then."

"God, I'm sorry Alex. You must have felt awful."

"I felt like shit, Lara. It made me feel even worse that she somehow expected me to be complimented when she said that she wouldn't forget me."

"She was the only woman that you ever loved?"

_No, I'm staring at the other one right now. _Alex thought. "Yeah." He lied. "After Pricilla I didn't date women long enough to get to know them. I just really kept them around for sex and to look pretty at parties."

"Now who sounds like a crusty old pervert?"

"Hmm, you have yet to complain." Alex said. He kissed her lips, running his hand up underneath her tank top.

Alex smiled, coaxing her lips apart and letting his tongue explore her mouth. Lara moaned softly as Alex moved both of his hands under her tank top, stroking her back. Lara's hands moved over his well sculpted chest. Suddenly, there was a loud crash, Lara jumped breaking the kiss.

"What was that?" She asked, looking around.

"Doesn't matter." Alex murmured, pulling Lara back against him.

"Hold on, I have to check on Donnica." Lara slid out of his lap and walked into the living room.

_Damnit! I shouldn't have gotten that cat._ Alex thought to himself. He sighed and got up, following Lara into the living room.

"What happened?" Alex asked, running his hand through his hair.

"Donnica knocked over the coasters." Lara said, picking up several glass coasters that had once sat on the coffee table. Donnica crawled out from under one of the living room chairs to see what was going on. She sniffed the coasters as Lara replaced them. She looked up at Alex, their eyes meeting.

Alex walked over to Lara, gripping her arms he pulled her against him. "Lara, I want you." He murmured. Lara went her knees weaken as she felt his bare chest against her breasts. Alex lowered his head to hers in a kiss. But before their lips met Lara pulled away.

"Alex. . . I can't do this." She said, after several seconds of silence.

"Why not?" He asked.

"I. . . . Alex, we've both been heart broken before, we've both cried for a lost love and I don't want to do all of it again." Lara said, trying to maintain her composer.

"Lara, I understand." Alex said. He brushed back Lara's bangs, gently cupping her face in his hand. "Not to sound like a Backstreet Boy or anything but I won't break your heart."

"Alex, I've heard that before. I can't do this again. Alex, I'm sorry, but I can't get into a relationship with you."

"Baby, what's the point in living if you can't feel alive?"

Before Lara could say anything Alex picked her up and carried her upstairs to her bedroom. He pushed the door open with his foot and carried Lara over to her bed, setting her down as he pulled himself on top of her. He kissed her, wedging his knee between her legs and tugging at her tank top.

"Alex, Alex, what are you doing?" Lara asked when he broke the kiss.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm seducing you." He said, pulling her tank top over her head. Lara playfully tugged at Alex's towel, it fell from his waist and onto the bed in a pile. Alex smiled at her, easing the strap of her sports bra off of her shoulder, spreading his kisses down her neck and to her chest.

Lara knew that she shouldn't be doing this, she knew this wasn't appropriate, wasn't dignified, wasn't _right_. But then Lara realized. . . . that she didn't care. Being with Alex for the past few days had been wonderful. Lara didn't want the feeling to end yet. Even if it was a Christmas fling then so be it, it might hurt later, but right now it felt so damn good.


	6. The insufferable Mr. West

***

"Lara?"

"Hmmm?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking that I can't believe we just did that."

Alex laughed.

"And in the middle of the day, too." Lara added. Alex smiled and kissed her shoulder.

"This has got to be the best Christmas I have ever had." Alex murmured.

"Hmm, is that just because you took me to bed?"

"No, well, that's part of it." Alex admitted. "But, finding someone to love is better." He gently kissed Lara's lips.

Lara lay next to Alex, her head buried in his shoulder. Alex stroked her naked back underneath the thin sheets that they were wrapped in.

"So, what now Alex?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do we do from here?" Lara brushed a strand of Alex's unruly hair back onto his brow.

"Hmm, I can think of something." Alex smiled, bringing their bodies closer together.

"You are insufferable, Mr. West." Lara said, kissing his nose. "But you have such a nice arse."

"Why thank you, Lady Croft." Alex laughed. "Who ever said that you Brits were stuffy?"

_I'll have to remember to ring Isis and tell her that she was right. . . _Lara thought as Alex made love to her again.

***

"Alex, Alex, come look at this!" Lara said as she rushed into her bedroom. She hopped onto the bed, next to Alex's sleeping form feeling like a child who had just met Santa Clause.

Alex moaned and rolled over.

"Come on, get up." Lara said, pulling the covers off of Alex.

"Can't it wait until morning?" Alex moaned, groping for the covers but finding Lara's waist instead. Satisfied with that, he rested his head on Lara's lap and closed his eyes.

"It IS the morning!" Lara said. "Now come on, you've got to see the front of the manor!" She pulled Alex out of bed. He groaned but got up, stretching.

"Alright, alright, but after I do I'm taking you back to bed." Alex grumbled.

"Whatever you say, darling." Lara laughed. She dragged Alex downstairs and flung open the front door. Outside the ground was covered in a thick layer of snow. The sun was raising above the trees in front of the house. The sky was streaked with pink and purple as the golden sun made it's way into the sky, making the fresh snow appear golden in the sun's rays.

"Wow." Alex murmured, looking around the Croft estate.

"Merry Christmas." Lara said, kissing him full on the lips.

_And what a very merry Christmas it is._ Alex thought happily.

"Mew?" Donnica weaved her way between Lara and Alex and stepped out onto the door step. She looked around at the strange white substance and decided to explore it. She hopped into the deep snow only to discover that this white stuff was very cold and very wet. Donnica let out a kittenish shriek and ran back into the house. Lara and Alex laughed and watched her try and shake off the wet and cold before scampering out into the kitchen where the warm stove was.

"Come on, I've got something for you." Lara said, pulling Alex back into the house.

"Oh really?" Alex asked imaging what Lara could have gotten him. "Can you give me a hint?" He asked, a silly smile spreading over his face.

"No."

"Just a little one? Like does it come from Victoria's Secret?" Alex smiled.

"I don't think you would look very good in anything from Victoria's Secret." Lara laughed.

Lara lead Alex into a secret room next to Bryce's computer area. She flicked on the overhead lights and walked in.

"Whoa, what is this?" Alex asked, he looked around the large room. There were several tables all holding an array of papers, notes, books, assorted pens and pencils, artifacts, replicas, maps and mapping tools. There were several large bookcases lining the room all full of books and more note books. There were several pedestals with artifacts on them near the back of the room.

"This is my junk room." Lara said. "Even Bryce doesn't know this is here. My father used it as a his study, but Robert boarded it up so I wouldn't get any of those silly tomb raiding ideas into my head, but I opened it up after he died."

She walked over to one of the pedestals. "This is what I wanted to show you." She said, softly.

Alex walked over to her and looked over the object that sat on the stone pillar. "It looks like the prayer wheel." He murmured.

"It is. The original anyways." Lara said.

"What do you mean 'the original'?"

"The one we found and that you sold was a fake."

"What?!" Alex shouted.

"Calm down, Alex. No one else knows about this, the fake was such an close duplicate that even I thought it was the original. But I went back to the tomb we raided and I realized that I had translated an inscription wrong and I was able to locate the real prayer wheel."

"How long did you know about this!?"

"For a month or two."

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because if I did then it would look like I was trying to rub it in your face and you wouldn't have believed me anyways."

Alex stopped and thought for a second. "No, I probably wouldn't have believed you, but still."

"Still what?" Lara asked, wrapping her arms around Alex's neck and kissing him.

"Never mind." Alex said, kissing her back. _It's not worth it anyways. . . _He thought. _What's done is done, not much point in worrying about it now._

Alex leaned Lara against a clean space on one of the large tables and began to pull at her night shirt.

"Ooo! Alex! What are you doing?" Lara said, removing his hand in protest.

"Well, I was GOING to make love to you." Alex said.

"What? Here?!" Lara asked, turning red.

"Why not? The table's sturdy enough, no one is going to walk in on us." Alex smiled, and kissed her hand. "Besides, never knock what you haven't tried." Lara let Alex slip his hand under her shirt and cup one of her breasts. She unbuttoned his shirt, running her hands over his rippling muscles.

"Well, I suppose. . ." Lara murmured. "New experiences should always be embraced."

"And made love to repeatedly." Alex added.

***

"You know, we should go out to dinner." Alex said, massaging more shampoo into Lara's scalp.

"But where? All the restaurants are closed." Lara asked, toying with the soap subs that clung to Alex's muscular figure.

"Not Chinese restaurants." Alex said. He smiled, taking more bath oils from the small crystal bottles on the rim of the tub and rubbing them into Lara's shoulders. "God bless the Chinese for not celebrating Christmas." He said.

"Hmm, well, after we finish our bath." Lara smiled.

"No problem." Alex's hands slipped under the water stroking her legs.

"Do you know that I have never done this before?" Lara asked, wrapping her legs around Alex's torso and pouring some shampoo onto her fingers.

"You have never taken a bath with someone before?" Alex asked as Lara began to massage the shampoo onto his hair.

"No. The British aristocrats that I've dated had never engaged in sexual activity other then in a bed with silk sheets at night after a date."

"You poor thing. I'll have to make sure you never have these unfortunate limitations put on you again." Alex smiled. "I want to make love to you, right now." Alex murmured.

"Not now. I have to wash my hair first."

"I'll wash your hair." Alex snickered. "And make love to you until you're too sore to even walk."

"That would be quiet a challenge, Mr. West."

"I'm always up for a challenge."

***

A phone rang. Alex opened his eyes and looked around. He recognized the ring tone. Alex gently set a sleeping Lara onto the pillows and slipped out of bed. He pulled on a pair of his boxers which had been strewn around the bedroom along with his other clothing. Alex grabbed his pants and fished around in the pocket until he located the ringing cell phone.

"Yeah?" He asked after hitting the 'talk' button.

"Hey, Alex. It's Sam. How are you?" Alex glanced at Lara who was sleeping soundly. He walked out of the bedroom and went down to the living room so he wouldn't wake her.

"Oh, I'm fine. Had a great Christmas." He said.

"No kidding!" Sam laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Come on, Alex. I saw the papers, along with the rest of the world. Why did you tell me that you were nailing Lara Croft?"

"What?! Papers?! What the hell are you talking about?!"

"You didn't see the newspapers? The tabloids are having a field day about you two. But that's not why I called."

"Why did you call?" Alex demanded. _Shit! Just what I need. Stupid tabloids._

"I have a client who needs a tomb raider. Are you interested?"

Alex sighed. "You know I am, when does the job start?"

"Right now."

"Right now? Sam, I'm kinda busy."

"Well, tell Lara not to wait up for you and you'll be back before she can close her legs."

"Hey! Take that back or I'll ram my desert eagle up your ass the next time I see you!"

"God damn, Alex! Calm down, it was just a joke."

"I didn't see the humor in it."

"Yeah, yeah. So are you coming or not?"

"I don't know. . . ."

"Come on, Alex. Christmas was almost a week ago. Time to get back to work."

"Alright, alright. Where does the client want to meet me?"

"In Mexico. I'll e-mail you the specifics. Talk to you later Alex."

Before Alex should say anything Sam hung up. Alex rubbed his temples. That means that he would have to go back to his house to pick up his laptop and charter a flight from there. That also meant that he would have to leave Lara. Alex glared at the cell phone in his hand. He wanted this Christmas holiday to last forever. But he knew that could never happen. He would have to go back to work and he would have to leave Lara. Alex couldn't tell her to her face. He knew that she would think that he was leaving her. He walked into her junk room, sat down and started to write her a letter. 

After he was finished he looked over the letter.

Dear Lara,

The last few weeks have been wonderful. But nothing can last forever. I have to go back to work and I'm afraid that I won't be able to see you that much. I have to go to Mexico right now but I'll return as soon as I can. I would love to spend every hour every with you, until that's possible I have to say good-bye.

Love,

Alex

Alex cringed. He was a horrible writer, but he didn't know what else to say to her. He sighed and walked back up to Lara's room. He collected his things, set the letter onto her night stand and gave Lara one last kiss.

"Merry Christmas, baby." Alex murmured before he walked out of the room and out of the house.


	7. When duty calls, ask it to leave a messa...

"Oh look, Hillary." Hillary's sister said as she entered the sitting room carrying a newspaper. Hillary's nieces and nephews were all spread out over the sitting room watching cartoons. He had decided to supervise them until breakfast was ready.

"What is it, Marie?" Hillary asked, looking away from _The Tweenies_.

"Isn't this is lady you work for?" Marie asked, showing him the large color photos on the front of the newspaper. The first picture was taken while Lara and Alex were at the vet. Lara's head was resting on Alex's shoulder, with his arm around her. There was another photo showing Lara and Alex when they had gone out to the Chinese food restaurant. Neither looked like they knew they were being photographed. The caption beneath read; 'Tis The Season For Tomb Raiding Romance!'.

"Oh no. . ." Hillary murmured. He took the paper from his sister and scoured the article. "Oh no. . ." He repeated as he read the article.

_Illustrious tomb raiders Lara Croft and Alex West were spotted together again at a small Chinese food restaurant near to Lara's multi-million pound estate. A friend of the couple said; "Alex always fancied Lara. They make the cutest couple, don't they? In fact, Alex started asking me what kind of wedding rings would look best on Lara."_

Hillary put the paper down. _I leave her alone for a month and she's already getting married. . . _"Marie, would you please inform mother that I have some urgent business to take care of and I will be leaving right away?"

"Sure, Hillary. But who's this Alex West bloke? He's right handsome." She said, looking over the pictures.

_He's going to be right dead when I get my hands on him. _Hillary thought angrily as he went upstairs to pack his things to return to the Croft manor. Although he tried to encourage Lara to think of Alex as a man instead of her competition Hillary knew exactly what was going on. Lara was upset about being alone for Christmas and the kitten and was in a very delicate state. Alex had obviously manipulated her somehow. 

Lara bearly gave him the time of day, and now she was being seen with him in public? And practically snogging, no less! Then again, the story could be completely fake. The tabloids never really paid that much attention to Lara and might have invented it to boast their sales during the Christmas season. Hillary placed his last article of clothing in his suitcase and closed it. Either way, he had a feeling that Lara was going to need him.

***

Hillary arrived at the Croft manor about ten that morning. He paid the overly talkative cab driver and walked up to the manor. The grounds were unusually quiet. Hillary looked around as he approached the front door. Lara was normally up by then and practicing on her training course or testing out her new weapons.

"Lara?" Hillary called out as he entered the house. He wanted to see Lara come out of the kitchen, say hello, look at the papers and have a good laugh about it before assuring him that nothing of the sort happened. However, Lara was no where in sight.

Hillary set his suitcases down and checked in the sparring room. Simon was sitting in the corner of the room looking untouched. Hillary walked out of Bryce's computer area and into the kitchen. No Lara. He checked the dinning room, her junk room, and the down stairs bedroom.

_She must be sleeping._ Hillary thought. He walked up the elegant flights of stairs to the second floor. _Maybe she was doing some night training on the grounds. Or perhaps she was up too late doing her bungee ballet. _Hillary pondered as he walked into Lara's room.

"Lara?" The lady in question was wrapped in her sheets, curled up against an impression of where someone else had lain the night before. Lara was obviously naked under the sheets. Hillary looked around before gently touching her shoulder. "Lara? Wake up, dear." He said.

Lara moaned softly and lifted her head from the pillows. "Alex?" She asked.

"No, Lara, it's Hillary. Are you alright?" He asked. 

Lara sat up and looked around her room, holding the sheets against herself. "Alex?" She glanced at Hillary. "Where's Alex?" She asked him.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him. Were you dreaming?" Hillary asked, hopefully even though he doubted that was true.

"No, Alex was here." Lara said. "Where did he go?" Lara slipped out of bed, pulling on a white terry cloth bathrobe. She began looking around the room. Alex's clothes were gone.

"Lara?" Hillary had discovered Alex's letter to her that was laying innocently on her nightstand. "It's for you." He said, handing her the slip of paper.

Lara snatched it and read over the words. "What?" She said, pretty much to herself. She re-read the letter.

"I'm sorry, Lara." Hillary said solemnly. He knew exactly what happened.

"How. . . . How could he do this to me?" Lara asked, holding the letter away from her. "He said that he wouldn't break my heart. . ." She read the letter at the distance.

Hillary sat down next to Lara, placing a hand on her shoulder. Lara shook him off. She stood up and walked towards the door to her room.

"What happened, Lara?" Hillary asked. "I saw the newspapers but I would like to hear the story from your point of view."

"My point of view?" Lara asked, turning around. "My point of view was that I had fallen in love with someone and was going to be able to finally love someone and trust someone and not be so bloody paranoid about men and now, at the drop of a hat, he runs off and doesn't even tell me to my face!" Lara shouted. "How dare that uneducated prick do this to me!?" She walked out of her room and down to the kitchen, ranting all the way. Hillary followed her, happy simply that Lara Croft's vengeance would not be directed at him.

Lara picked up the phone and punched in a number.

"Lara? Who are you calling?" Hillary asked.

"Smoke."

"Lara! I don't think a paid assassin is in order right now!"

Lara looked up. "You're right. I should do it myself." She replaced the phone and walked to her gunroom.

Hillary finally caught up with Lara, he gripped her arms making her look at him so he knew that he had her full attention. "Hold on, Lara, killing Alex simply because he's a insufferable prick is not justified. If all the insufferable pricks in this world were killed there would be a serious decline in the world's population."

"My concern ISN'T the world's population. If that prat thinks that he can get away with treating me like one of his air headed bimbos that he uses for sex and gets rid of whenever he gets tired of them, then he has got another thing coming." Lara picked up a revolver that was laying on the desk in the gunroom and cocked it.

"Lara, think rationally!" Hillary said.

"I am rational! I can simply say that he attacked me and I shot him dead in self defense. It worked on the thousands of other men that I've killed. That is, IF I get caught for it. Come to think of it, I don't think that anyone would convict me for ridding the world of such an idiot!" Lara thundered.

Before Lara realized what was happening, Hillary picked up a glass of water that was resting on the desk and splashed it on her face. Lara stopped in mid sentence and froze. "Cool down, Lara. Homicide is never the answer." Hillary said, quietly.

Lara glared at him as he continued. "I can understand that you're upset, but I'd much rather you cry then attempt to kill anyone." Lara leaned back against the desk, replacing the revolver.

"I can't. My father always told me, you should never cry over someone who's not worth your tears." Lara said, in her regular soft manor. She brush some of the moister away from her place.

Hillary wrapped his arms around her. Lara turned to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Why did I do that, Hillary? Why did I let myself get hurt again?" She was about to cry, the reality of Alex's betrayal finally setting in. It robbed her of her rage and left her only with a feeling of emptiness.

"It's alright, Lara." Hillary said, trying to comfort her. "You're much better off without him. A male who doesn't know a woman's worth can never be a man."

"Thank you, Hillary." Lara murmured.

"However, I don't suggest telling Bryce about this. He might be the one who tracks him down with a revolver if he finds out."

"But he would have seen the papers by now."

"I doubt that, Lara. Bryce doesn't know about anything unless it's online."

Lara laughed. "Yes, that is true."

"Come on, let's get you something to eat." Hillary said.

***

Alex stretched out on his bed, punching in Lara's phone number. He smiled, finally, after a week of his annoying customers and their even more annoying children he had enough time to call Lara. He had been dying just to hear her voice for days.

"Croft residence." Hillary's voice after he picked up the phone.

"Hey, is Lara around?" Alex asked. He was in an unbelievably good mood, picturing Lara's face, her smile, remember the peaceful way she slept, being able to hear the sounds of her breathing.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "Mr. West, I presume?" Hillary finally said.

"Yeah, can you put Lara on?"

"Mr. West, Lara does not wish to speak with you and requests that you do not ring her again."

"What?" Was this some kind of dumb joke?

"You heard me the first time." Hillary said.

"What do you mean, Lara doesn't want to talk to me?"

"She is not a bimbo, Mr. West and she will not tolerate being treated as such. If you want someone just to sleep with then I suggest you find a prostitute." Hillary hung up.

"Hey! Hillary!" Alex shouted. He was greeted only with silence. "Damnit!" _What the hell is he talking about?! 'Someone just to sleep with'? He wasn't even there for crying out loud! _Alex thought angrily. _What's going on!? _He looked up. Maybe Lara had misinterpreted his letter. Alex rubbed his eyes and sighed. That had to be it. Lara thought that he had used her for sex and left her before he got bored with her.

Alex sat down at his laptop which was set up on the small desk in his hotel room. _He said that I couldn't call. He didn't say anything about e-mailing. _Alex thought happily. He opened his e-mail account and began to compose a letter.

_Dear Lara,_

_How are you?_

Alex closed his eyes. THAT was a stupid question. If Lara thought that he had used her and had moved on, she was probably gutted. Lara didn't seem to love easily, Alex didn't expect her to take heartbreak well. He erased the line and started again.

_I've missed you._

He looked back on the words. Missing her was open to interpretation. . .

"Shit." Alex muttered. He knew he should have paid more attention in English class.

There was a soft knock on the door. Alex looked up. "Come in." He said, flipping the screen of his laptop down.

Devin, one of his employer's children, and the only one that Alex actually liked and just didn't tolerate, stepped in.

"Are you busy?" Devin asked in his soft British accent.

Alex glanced at his laptop. "Well, I'm trying to write a letter to someone, but I don't exactly have a way with word, to put it lightly."

Devin's ears pricked up. He was a college student who was majoring in poetic writing, which Alex was not aware of. "Would you like me to help?" He asked.

"That would be great." Alex got up, letting Devin sit down in the desk chair. He flipped the screen of the laptop up as Devin found his key fingering.

"Alright, now what do you want to say to this person?" Devin asked. He couldn't care less who this person was and why Alex was e-mailing them, he had been dying to be back on a computer.

"Well, this person is someone who I care very deeply about." Alex began.

"Romantically?"

"Oh yeah. And she thinks that I used her after we got romantically involved and then I got the job here so I had to leave really quickly. I wanted to tell her that I'm going to be back as soon as I can." Alex paused. "And that I love her." He added.

"Have you told her that you love her before?" Devin asked, his fingers already flying over the keys.

"No. This would be the first time. I would like to tell her face-to-face, but that's not possible right now."

"Okay, one second." Devin said, continuing to type at a rapid speed. Alex sat down on his bed, stretching.

"Right, done!" Devin smiled.

"Whoa, that was quick." Alex said, standing up.

"Come here and tell me what you think." Devin said motioning him over. Alex leaned over the computer desk and read the letter.

_Dear Lara,_

_I'm in Mexico right now, wishing that you were here with me and dreaming about you every night. I'll be coming back to you as soon as this job is over, which should be in a week or two. Please know that this was the reason for my haste. My heart was crushed when I felt that you thought I had been using you. You are the only reason that I have gotten up everyday. I work for hours and hours knowing that I can come back to sooner that way._

_Thoughts of your smiling face, your soothing voice and your irresistible charm are my only company in this lonely place. I didn't want to say this earlier because I wasn't sure, but I'm positive now. I love you, Lara. I love you with all my heart. Every second that I've been away from you is torture, I pray for the days to go faster so I will be back in your arms._

_Love always,_

_Alex_

"That's, uh, a little flowery, don't you think?" Alex said. "I mean, I don't want her to know that I didn't write this."

"Pretend that you have an untapped poetic side that was awakened by your suffering. Believe me, women love a poet." Devin winked at him.

"I'll quote you on that." Alex smiled. "Want to send it for me?"

"Over e-mail? Alex, that's a little impersonal."

"Impersonal?" Alex asked, confused.

Devin stood up, taking a clean piece of paper from a pad that lay on the desk. He picked up a pen from the small black container that lay beside the paper and handed it to Alex. "Write it instead and mail it to her. It will help the sincerity of the letter."

"How?" Alex asked.

"Seeing your hand writing will help. Now, write it down and send it off." He said, patting Alex on his shoulder.

"Okay, if you say so."

Alex began to copy the letter onto the stationary.


	8. He's going to be right dead. . . .

Two months later

"Lara? Are you alright, dear?" Hillary asked, gently knocking on the bathroom door.

Within a few minutes Lara emerged. Still looking ill and miserable. 

"I need some water." Lara muttered as she pushed past Hillary and went into the kitchen.

"Lara, I want an explanation. That's the third time you've vomited today and it's not even noon yet." Hillary said.

"Maybe it was what you cooked for dinner last night." Lara snapped. She took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and took a long drink.

"I doubt that, Lara." Hillary shifted his weight. "I need to ask you something."

"What?" Lara demanded.

"When you and Alex were together, did you use protection?"

Lara shot him an annoyed glance. "I didn't see the point." She said through her gritted teeth. Years earlier Lara had gone to a doctor after she had gotten engaged to Robert to make sure that she was healthy enough to have a child. Having a baby was Robert's idea, but he had convinced Lara to go along with him. Lara had actually started to plan having a baby when the doctor heartlessly informed her that the odds of her being able to conceive and carry a child for nine full months were about the same as her growing a third arm. Lara had been crushed and hadn't had the strength to tell Robert.

"Lara, you're not running a fever, you've never gotten sick from alfredo before and you've been so tried lately, I don't know what else to think." Hillary said.

"Well, come up with something else." Lara snapped. She starred her reflection in one of the kitchen windows. 

"I want you to see a doctor." Hillary said, calmly.

"And when you control my life, I just might." Lara said sourly. She walked out of the kitchen, ascended the stairs and walked back to her bedroom. Once there Lara curled up on the sheets that she and Alex had made love on and pulled the blankets to her shoulders. She still felt sick and was too miserable to move. Where ever Alex West was, Lara hoped that he was as unhappy as she was.

***

"Hillary?" Bryce asked, poking his head into the kitchen, where Hillary sat with his head in his hands. "Is Lara alright?"

"I think she's pregnant, Bryce. But other then that she seems fine." Hillary muttered.

"What?!" Bryce demanded. He sat down at the kitchen table across from Hillary. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't suppose you heard about her and Mr. West then." Hillary sighed.

"No. What about Mr. West?"

"He and Lara had a little Christmas fling and as soon as the holiday was over Alex left her and went to Mexico."

"That bastard!"

"Calm down, Bryce. There's no point in getting upset about _him_. I'm a bit more worried about Lara being pregnant right now. A doctor told her that she would never be able to conceive, let alone carry a child to term so she refuses to go to another doctor."

"Why can't she have kids?"

"Her father told me that a gynecologist she had visited was quiet clear about the fact that she had the fertility rate of a forty-year-old woman. He wasn't even completely sure why, but he didn't bother to find out either. Lara didn't find out about this until she was twenty-one though."

"But if she can't have children, they why do you think she's pregnant?"

"It's not impossible for her to conceive, it's just extremely unlikely. Besides, there are plenty of forty-year-old mothers out there. However, the doctor that Lara went to gave her the impression that she would never become pregnant naturally so she never brought up the subject again. It's also why she gets so annoyed when her friends used to talk about their pregnancies around her."

"So. . . . How are you going to get her to go to a doctor?"

"I'm not sure. I was hoping that she would get tired of the vomiting and at least go see a doctor to prescribe something for her. But she's been in a fowl mood for days and she doesn't want to come out of her room at all, let alone out of the house."

"I know, Donnica's been right lonely. She crawls into my lap to sleep all the time and she keeps standing outside of Lara's door, waiting for her to open it."

"Poor cat. Donnica probably reminds her of Alex."

"Oh, I'd love to run into Alex West sometime. With a rather large shotgun, too. Cor, what a bastard."

"Don't tell that to her. Lara's upset enough as it is without you adding to it. She's still mad at you for your little birthday surprise. Honestly Bryce, setting her up on a blind date with a footballer? I don't even know how you got that Neanderthal to go out with her."

"Hey, he was practically begging me, besides, she had that coming for when she set me up with her friend's daughter."

"Don't you give me that, you nagged Lara for a week to set you up with her."

"Yeah, that's when I thought she was actually a normal person and not some stuck up bitch who thought she was a princess."

"Well, it doesn't seem like you've learned your lesson."

"You haven't either."

"What do you mean?"

"You're still going to through Lara's mail. That's a serious offense, you know."

"I'm doing that for her own protection. Besides, if Alex would stop mailing her then I wouldn't have to go through her mail, would I?"

"Have you read any of his letters?" Bryce asked.

"I read the first one. He obviously got someone to write it for him and copied it down in his illegible handwriting."

"How do you know that someone else wrote it?"

Hillary rolled his eyes. "Can you imagine someone like Alex saying; ' I pray for the days to go faster so I will be back in your arms'?"

"Good lord, no. That's almost funny. I'll be sure to laugh in Alex's face if I ever see him again."

"I pray that will never happen."

***

Alex moaned and turned the TV off. "Sam, this is all your fault." He said, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. "Lara won't talk to me, Hillary hangs up on me, she won't answer my letters and I feel like a prick."

"You are a prick." Sam said, flipping the page in the magazine that he was looking through.

"Gee, thanks for your support." Alex grumbled sarcastically.

"Come on, Alex. You're not the settle-down-get-married type. That's what Lara seems to want and she should have had the good sense to know that you're not, so it's her own fault for getting involved with you."

"That doesn't help the present situation any." Alex stated.

"I wasn't even attempting to help, Alex."

"God, I miss her. I wonder what she's doing right now." Alex closed his eyes and imagined several scenarios in his head. "Maybe she's on her assault course." He murmured, picturing Lara leaping from box to box, carelessly soaring through the air, her long braid falling behind her, her body glistening with perspiration.

"Are you going to write a song next?" Sam asked. 

"Do you think Lara would take me back if I did?"

Sam put down the magazine. "Alex, I have seen a lifetime of love struck morons but you have surpassed them all. If you miss her so much then why don't you go after her? Go see her in person."

"You're right!" Alex got up from his bed and walked over to his mess of a closet. "Come on, Sam. Pack your bags, you're going with me."

"What? Why?"

"You got me into this mess, you're going to help get me out of it. Besides, I might need you to hold off Bryce and Hillary while I make a break for Lara."

"Alex West, you are insane." Sam said, standing up. "Must be why we get along so well."

***

"Lady Croft?" The doctor asked, re-entering the room.

Lara sat at the end of a padded table, with her arms crosses over her chest. She was very angry and wanted nothing more then the doctor to tell her that she had a simple stomach virus so that she could go home. It took Hillary and Bryce to finally corner her into going to see a doctor. She had been cross and uncooperative the entire time while the doctor attempted to run simple tests on her. But now the tests were over and she was awaiting the results.

"What is it? A cold? A virus?" Lara demanded.

"Oh nothing like that. Congratulations Lady Croft, you're pregnant." He said with a huge friendly smile.

"Are you sure?" Lara asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes, quiet sure. You're about eight weeks along. Would you like to set up a date for you to return for a check up?" He asked.

"Fine." Lara muttered. She didn't wait for the doctor to lead her back to the waiting room. She walked out herself and went to the checkout desk. Hillary, who had been in the waiting room with Bryce got up when he saw her and walked over to her.

"Lara? What are the results?" He asked.

"I'm pregnant." Lara muttered as she signed her name to the credit card bill for the visit.

"Oh, Lady Croft." The doctor asked, catching her attention. "When would be a good time for you to come for another check up? We have a space open a few days from now."

"That's fine." Lara snapped.

"Oh, and one more thing." The doctor said, reaching inside of a desk drawer. "Since you were such a good girl today." He extend a lollipop to her.

Suddenly, Lara grabbed the pudgy doctor by his jacket collar and pulled him over the desk behind the check out window. Lara didn't bother saying anything, her glare of sheer malice spoke all the words needed. She took the lollipop from the his chubby fingers and walked off, leaving Hillary to make the appointment.

Lara walked out to Hillary car and slid into the passenger's seat. She unwrapped the lollipop and sucked on it. She was pregnant. Now what was she going to do?


	9. Stress

Lara nibbled on another spoonful of mint chocolate chip ice cream. She wiped a tear from her eye and took another spoonful from the carton of ice cream that was sitting on her lap. She pulled another tissue from the nearly empty box and blew her nose.

"Look Hillary, that's the kind of family that I want." Lara said, pointing to the television screen.

Hillary sighed. _Don't scream. _He instructed himself. _Don't scream. _"Lara, this is a movie. Besides, you hate wearing long dresses and you would have shot Mel Gibson yourself if he expected you to cook and clean."

"I don't care." Lara said. She wiped another tear from her eye. Hillary sat back. In an effort to get Lara's mind off of her pregnancy he had rented _The Patriot_. He had hoped that a good war movie would be enough to distract her for a little while. However, he didn't know about the tear jerking family content that the movie had.

Bryce leaned over to Hillary. "I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I think we should watch _Titanic _next."

"You'd better get another box of tissues then." Hillary muttered.

Lara glanced at the tiny swell in her stomach then back at the television screen. "Hillary, do you think the baby is a boy or a girl?"

"I say it's a boy." Bryce said. "Ooo, wanna make a bet?"

"No." Hillary said, flatly.

With another tear rolling down her cheek, Lara went to scoop more ice cream into her mouth but found that the carton was empty. She looked around. Did she really eat that entire carton in one sitting? "Hillary, do you have any more ice cream in the freezer?" She asked, standing up.

"I think we have some Godiva left, Lara. But are you sure you should be eating all of that ice cream?" Hillary asked.

"The doctor said that it was perfectly alright." Lara stated before she walked out of the TV room and went down stairs. Donnica, who had been curled up on the floor in front of the fire place, looked up and scampered after Lara. She hopped onto the kitchen counter, giving Lara an adorable look and mewing softly at her.

"At least you're still here." Lara said, stroking the kitten under her chin. Donnica mewed and purred. "Well, let's see what kind of ice cream we have left, shall we?" Lara opened the freezer and began to survey her selection. Suddenly there was a knock at the front door.

"Hillary!" Lara called.

"I'm off duty!" Hillary called.

"Bryce!"

"Come on, Lara. You're closest."

"I'm pregnant, Bryce. And the doctor told you not to stress me out so, run along and get the door." Lara smiled. There was an upside to being pregnant. The doctor said that she should pamper herself and let Hillary and Bryce pamper her, so she set out to abuse the privilege.

"Alright fine." Bryce said, admitting defeat and trotting down the stairs. _Cor. I hope this doesn't last much longer. _Bryce thought, he opened the door, expecting to find a solicitor or a UPS man. But instead, Alex West stood there, looking as casual as ever.

"Hey, is Lara here?" He asked.

"You! You. . . . . !" Bryce finally gave up on trying to insult him and instead dealt him a swift blow to his left temple. After hours of watching Lara train she had finally taught him how to punch. However, Alex knew the same delicate art and after an exhausting car ride and listening to nothing but Limp Bizkit for three hours straight, he wasn't about to let a computer nerd get the best of him.

Alex struck out at Bryce, nearly knocking him off of his feet with a powerful punch. Bryce dove at him and soon a full blown fist fight had broken out. Lara peered around the corner of the kitchen, curious of what was going on after hearing the sounds of a scuffle. She peered into the front room just in time to see Alex attack Bryce.

"Bryce!" Lara shouted as the fight broke out. She ran towards the two who were locked in mortal combat.

"Lara, what's-" Hillary stopped short when he saw the struggle. "Oh no." Hillary grabbed a pistol from the gun room and raced down the stairs. Lara was already at the two, trying to break them apart. Both were too furious and intent on doing the other bodily harm to listen to her. Suddenly, a gunshot went off. The fight stopped and everyone looked over at Hillary who was holding the pistol which was pointed at the ceiling.

"Bryce!" Lara said, she pulled him away from Alex, examining his bleeding nose and his already swelling eye.

"Lara, I-" Alex started.

"Get out!" Lara shouted.

"Lara, please, I wanted to talk with you." Alex tried to explain.

Lara grabbed Hillary's gun and pointed it at Alex's head. "Get out, or so help me God, I will shoot you right now."

"I- Lara, please." Alex practically begged.

Lara cocked the gun. "Walk away, Alex. Just shut up, and walk away."

Without any other option, Alex hung his head and left the Croft estates.

***

"Cor! Did you see that punch I landed on his face?" Bryce asked, excitedly. Lara dapped the blood off of his face and handed him an ice pack to hold against his eye.

"That was a very nice punch, Bryce. Alex never knew what hit him." Lara smiled.

"Don't encourage him." Hillary muttered.

"You're only mad cause you missed out on all of the action." Bryce said.

"Oh, yes, getting attacked by Alex West is a huge honor." Hillary said, sarcastically.

"Well, I do believe Alex will think twice before he comes to call again." Lara snickered.

"Lara, has to ever occurred to you that Alex should know about the baby?" Hillary asked.

"He left me." Lara said, sourly. "If he cared, he would have stayed. So he's given up any right that he may have had to his child."

"He is the father, Lara, he deserves to know." Hillary sighed.

"He deserves nothing from me. Right, Bryce?"

"Right." Bryce agreed.

Hillary shot him a death glare. Lara was difficult enough without having Bryce egging her on in her anti-Alex campaign.

***

"Gwenavere? Are you there, love?" Hillary asked. He spilled two Alka-Seltzer into a glass of water and sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Yes, Hillary. What do you need?" A business-like voice asked.

"Have you seen the papers recently?"

"You know I don't pay attention to anything the press says." Gwenavere stated.

"Well, let me fill you in then. Lara and Alex West had a Christmas fling. He picked up and left her at the first possible chance, didn't even bother to say good-bye, Lara is now pregnant and she refuses to tell Alex about the child."

"I'm a lawyer, not Dear Abbey, why on Earth did you call me?" Gwenavere asked.

"Because I want you to talk some sense into Lara. I think you'll agree with me that Alex has a right to know that she is carrying his baby."

"Hillary, the last boyfriend I had was four years ago who ran off with a eighteen year old model from France with tits the size of her head. Forgive me if I'm not very sympathetic to the male side of this story."

"Gwenavere, please. This is about the baby. I don't believe that it should be raised without a father and I know that Lara will regret it later in life, so I need you to convince her that she has to tell Alex about the baby."

"Hillary, Lara is a big girl and she is not your responsibility."

"That is where you're wrong, Gwenavere. I swore to her father that I would look after her and he would not be very happy that she is now unmarried and pregnant!"

"That contract was moral, not legal, you have no obligation to fulfill it. Besides, if you simply want a father for the child, who says that it has to be the biological one?"

Hillary stopped and thought. "By God, you're right! There are plenty of men much, much better then Alex who could marry her. You are a genius, Gwenavere. Thank you, so much!" Hillary put the phone down and went to go find Bryce. 

Bryce was in his trailer sitting at his computer, sorting through his vast library of MP3s and toying with the idea of burning another CD. He looked up when Hillary entered the small room which was growing messier by the day. He set his head phones down and raised any eyebrow at his co-worker.

"Any luck with Lara?" He asked.

"Well, no." Hillary said. "But I rang Gwenavere and she gave me an excellent idea."

"What? To stop Alex from ever reproducing again? I'm sure she could give you a few methods to make sure of that."

"Very funny." Hillary stated fatly. "But getting back to what I was trying to say. Gwenavere said that if Lara's child needs a father then it doesn't necessarily have to be the biological one."

"Yes. . . . . Okay. . . So what are you getting at?"

"We find Lara a husband."

"You're insane."

"No, it's a perfectly logical explanation. I mean, how hard is it to find a man who would want to marry a beautiful millionaires with a wonderful personality?"

"Well, if we tell them that, none. But if we tell the whole truth, that she's stubborn, thick headed, doesn't listen to a word you say and is more content shuffling around in old tombs with three thousand year old mummies and blasting little mechanical toys to bits and building assault courses and taking trips all over the world then anything else. Not to mention, she doesn't know how to cook, she hates cleaning, she's not fond of children, which is going to be a problem pretty soon, she hates fancy dress parties and she refuses to follow anyone else's direction if their not her own. And-!"

"Alright, Bryce. I understand." Hillary snapped, cutting him off. "Lara isn't perfect, but that's hardly a reason to keep from trying. Besides, I don't want to condemn the child to a fatherless existence, especially when there are plenty of things that we can do to prevent it."

"Has it ever struck you that, maybe, just maybe, you should but out of Lara's business?"

"Bryce, if this wasn't coming from someone who just attacked one of her ex-lovers it might have a little more sting to it. Now, let's not waste any time? Hmm?"

***

"Okay, I worked on this all last night." Bryce said, he entered the dinning room where Hillary was sitting and dropped a tall stack of papers in front of him. "But before I share with you my work, where is Lara?"

"She's gone out shopping with Gwenavere. They won't be back for several hours, now what did you find?" Hillary asked, reading over the papers.

"Well, there are twenty-six unmarried lords between the ages of twenty-five and forty." Bryce said, showing Hillary a list of names. "I made sure that each one is of good moral character, no other children, messy divorces, that sort of thing. And the list went down by half. But from there I narrowed it down, since two are engaged, another two have serious girlfriends. Then I asked an online friend to rule out a few based on looks. And now, it's down to three." Bryce said. He took out pictures of each of the lords along with their vital statistics and bios.

"Now. To my knowledge, Lara doesn't know any of these men. So, do we introduce them to her all at once and let her pick, or go one by one and see which one gets along with her best?"

"We could just throw them all into a giant pit and the survivor gets to court her."

"Dear God, you made a joke. Are you alright? Do you need to lay down or something?"

"Shut up, Bryce."

"Fair enough. Let's get to work."

***

"What do you think of this, Lara?" Gwenavere asked, holding up a little black dress.

"Very nice." Lara said, half hearted.

"Well, I've got a date later this week, so I thought I might as well get something new." Gwenavere smiled.

"You have a date? Dear God, I think all hell might freeze over tonight." Lara smiled at her friend.

"Very cute, Lara."

"So, what's the lucky guy like?"

"He's sweet and gentlemanly and his kisses are amazing."

"Ooo, what's his name?"

"Oh, was I supposed to get his name? Oops." Lara laughed. Although Gwenavere spent most of her time as a starchy, all business lawyer, she still had a sense of humor.

"So, Lara, how is your love life going?" Gwenavere asked.

"What love life?" Lara countered.

"Well, you _are_ pregnant. So you must have had some sort of love life at one time."

"There's not much to tell. He picked up and left me at the first sign of money."

"Does he know that you are pregnant?"

"No. He's not going to know either."

"So you're not telling him that you are pregnant with his child, why again?"

"Because he left me. He doesn't deserve to know."

"And you're going to make an innocent child suffer because of this."

"Leave me alone, Gwen. I don't want to argue about this."

"Neither do I, but you cannot doom your child to a fatherless future simply because you disagree with what he did ages ago."

"And what if I do tell him and he leaves me and the baby? Then what?"

"You won't know that until you try, Lara. Think of your father. Would you have wanted a live without him?"

Lara's hands crept to her stomach. She sat down on a bench that was sitting outside of a dressing room.

"Oh no. . . . ." Lara murmured. "Gwen, what have I done?"

Gwen sat down next to her, taking her hand. "It's alright, Lara. You can ring him when we get home. It is not too late."

"Thanks, Gwen." Lara said, resting her head on her friend's shoulder.

"Not a problem." Gwenavere said, looping an arm around Lara. "Come on, we've got to finish shopping. And I've got dips on the little black dress."

Lara smiled. "Okay, but I get the red one."

***

"Alright. . ." Lara starred at the phone. How in the world was she just supposed to call up Alex West and tell him that he was going to be a father? _Is there a way other then blurting it out?_ She wondered. 

Lara sat down on her bed and thought for several seconds. She tried to remember how her friends had told their husbands that they were pregnant. But their scenarios were much happier. Lara wasn't sure how Alex would react to the news. Having him drop the phone and leap around his room in excitement was not something that she was expecting him to do.

"Okay, girl." Lara said to herself. "Enough stalling. . . Time to face the music." Lara picked up the phone and with all the strength in her body she dialed his cell phone number. The phone rang twice before someone picked up.

"Hello?" Asked a tired voice.

"Alex?" Lara blurted out. The voice sounded different.

"He's not here." The voice was female. "Hey, who the hell is this!?" The demanding voice snapped.

"I need to talk to Alex. When will he be back?"

"Listen bitch, you stay the hell away from my man, you hear me?! I'm his fiancé you little slut, you call back here and I'll get a restraining order on you! Whore!" 

Suddenly, Lara was greeted by the sound of the dial tone. The phone dropped from Lara's hands and fell with a thud onto the carpeted floor. Lara sank to the ground, shaking. She curled up into a ball to try and stop the tremors that were racing through her body. Now, it had finally struck her, that she was pregnant. And now, Lara Croft was completely alone.


	10. When you want it the most

***

Alex West unlocked the door to his apartment and stumbled inside. It was around four in the morning. He had been out with Sam, trying to forget his problems and get over Lara via a bottle of alcohol. It didn't work. He was still miserable and alone. Alex flicked on the lights to his living room. He rubbed his eyes, wanting nothing more then to go to sleep and never wake up.

"Hey there, sexy." Alex looked up in dread at the all too familiar voice. Before he could say anything the voice's owner pinned him against his blue recliner in a kiss and began to unbutton his shirt.

"Hey! Hold on, Champagne. How did you get into my apartment?" Alex asked, removing her hands from his shirt. Champagne smiled and began to unzip his pants. "Whoa! Down girl, I want answers first." Alex said.

"Fine." Champagne said, getting up. She walked over to the coffee table and retrieved a pack of cigarettes. "I came to see you, Alex. I know how much you've been missing me, so I've decided to take you back." Champagne said, opening her gold plated lighter and lighting the cigarette. She sat down on the coffee table, positioning her legs in a fashion so that Alex could plainly see that she hadn't bothered with underwear that morning underneath the tiny scrap of fabric that she called a skirt.

Alex almost laughed. "_You're_ going to take _me_ back?" He asked in disbelief. "Honey, I dumped you."

"I know that Alex, but you were just upset, so I'll give you a second chance." Champagne said, pulling her tube top over her head and innocently tossing it at Alex.

"I was not upset when I broke up with you, Champagne. I was upset when I caught you trying to give Sam a lap dance." Alex tossed the shirt back to her. "Put this back on." He ordered.

"I was drunk Alex, big deal." Champagne said, not listening to him.

"Yeah, it _is_ a big deal, honey. It's also a big deal when you can't keep your hands off of anything with a penis."

"Don't be jealous, Alex. Men love me, who am I to say no?"

"Well, you _were_ my girlfriend, but since that doesn't seem to be enough for you, then I suggest you find some other guy who won't mind dating a slut."

Champagne snubbed out her cigarette on the surface of Alex's new wooden coffee table. "Look Alex, I asked you if you wanted to join in and you said no, so it's your problem. Besides, you're not involved with anyone, so why not?" She began to toy with her bra strap.

"Don't even think about it." Alex warned. "Leave now or I'll call the cops." He said, pointing to the door. Champagne didn't move. Alex ignored her and walked over to his answering machine. He pressed the button to hear his messages only to hear the mechanical voice tell him that he had none.

"Don't worry, Alex. I told everyone to leave you alone tonight so we can be together." Champagne murmured. She took off her bra, tossing it onto the couch.

"Who did you tell?" Alex demanded.

"Just some bitch you called up asking for you."

"Who?"

"She didn't say her name. But she got the point."

"If that was who I think it was, you are so dead." Alex fumed.

"Come on, Alex, I know you want me." Champagne said in her sex kitten purr. "Don't fight it, you'll only hurt yourself. What you need is some time with a real woman."

"Champagne, there is nothing 'real' about you. Now get those fake tits out of my face and out of my apartment!" Alex shouted.

Champagne made a flustered sound. "Fine then, you'll be sorry, Alex West! Just you wait!" Champagne slipped her fake leather jacket on and stormed out of the apartment without bothering to put her tube top back on.

"And don't let the door hit you on the way out!" Alex called after her. He heard a slam. "Bitch."

***

Gwenavere walked into the Croft manor without ringing the bell. She walked over to the computer area where Bryce and Hillary were sitting. She spun Hillary's chair around and handed him her business jacket.

"Come, come Hillary. Let's not be lazy." She said. Hillary got up from his seat and began to put her jacket into a closet. "So, what is wrong with Lara now? Mood swings? Morning sickness? Are things swelling?" Suddenly she caught sight of Bryce's eye. "Good lord, what did you say to her?" She asked.

"I got this from Alex West." Bryce muttered.

"Perfect. Well, is that what Lara's so upset about that you had to call me out of a meeting?" She asked.

"No, it's not that. Actually, we don't know what it is. But Lara has been up in her room crying for nearly four hours. She locked all the doors and refuses to talk to us." Hillary said, returning to stand next to Gwenavere.

"So you're hoping that I can get her to talk?" Gwenavere asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, at least get her to stop crying." Hillary said.

"Alright, I'll try. In the meantime, I haven't eaten yet, so Hillary, be a love and get me a ham and cheese sandwich with crisps and a glass of non-fat milk, please."

"Of course." Hillary said.

With that, Gwenavere walked up the grand stairs and down the hall to Lara's room. Lara's sobs were clearly audible through the thick door. She knocked gently, then harder when she got no answer.

"Go away!" Lara shouted from within.

"Lara? Love, it's Gwenavere. Do you want to talk?" She asked.

There were several seconds of silence, then finally the door swung open an inch. Gwenavere stepped in, shutting it behind herself. Lara's eyes were red and blood shot from her tears. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were wrinkled. Lara flopped down on her bed. Gwenavere pulled a chair over and sat down. She took Lara's hand.

"Love, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" She asked.

"I rang Alex." Lara said, wiping a tear off of her cheek.

"Oh no. . . What did he say?" Gwenavere asked.

"He didn't answer. His fiancé did." Lara covered her mouth with her hand and began to start crying again.

"Bugger." Gwenavere muttered.

"I don't understand." Lara sobbed. "How could he be engaged, why did he do this to me?!"

"Lara, you're not making things any better by crying about it, now are you?"

"No." Lara sobbed, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

"And if I know Lara Croft she doesn't sit around and cry when she can be doing something more productive. Now, if you want Alex West to know that you're pregnant you've got to tell him in person. Then the little bastard can sort out his harem later."

"But-"

"No buts. Now, you know where Alex lives right?"

"Yes, he gave me his address a while ago."

"Great, so what are you waiting for? Alex won't have enough time to worry about his fiancé when he's got a Croft at his doorstep."

"And the papers? What if they catch wind of this?"

"Who cares? It's news today, it's a wrapper for fish and chips tomorrow."

"Well. . . I suppose I could go see Alex in person. The doctor said that a short vacation would be a good idea. Hmmm, let me go pack my guns." Lara said.

"Guns? Lara, what are you going to need-" Gwenavere stopped herself. "Ah, yes. Well, have fun, love."

Lara packed her guns, threw her clothes into a suitcase, bid good-bye to everyone and left the manor in six minutes flat. Hillary and Bryce didn't even have time to ask questions as Lara raced around them, getting ready. Finally Lara said good-bye and left. Gwenavere walked down stairs, holding Donnica, smiling as Lara drove away from the house.

"What the hell did you tell her?" Hillary demanded.

"I told her to stop crying and go tell Mr. West about the baby in person." Gwenavere said, quiet pleased with herself.

"You did what?!" Hillary and Bryce shouted in unison.

"Hillary you rang me whining that Lara wouldn't tell Alex, not what is all this screaming for?" Gwenavere asked.

"We decided to get her fixed up with someone else. You know, someone better then Alex." Bryce said.

"Well that would be a very long list." Gwenavere commented. She set Donnica down and looked back at Hillary and Bryce. "Boys, the more you tamper in Lara's life the more you are going to make her miserable. Leave her alone. No one can help her but herself." Gwenavere smiled at them. "Now, I've got a meeting to go to."

Hillary held up a plate with a sandwich on it and a glass of milk and raised an eyebrow at the lawyer.

"Ah, thank you, Hillary. But I've got to get back to work now. Till next time." Gwenavere left the house.

"That woman is going to give me gray hair." Hillary muttered. He set the food down next to Bryce's keyboard. "Want some?"

"Sure."

***

Lara arrived at Alex's apartment late that night. She had already check into a local hotel and had prepared what she was going to say to Alex. She ran a hand through her hair, praying that she could maintain her calm appearance all night. The door opened slowly and Alex poked his head outside. When he saw who was at his doorstep he threw the door open and stared at her in disbelief.

"Lara?!" He asked.

"Can I come in?" Lara asked in her soft accented voice.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Come on in." 

Lara stepped cautiously into his apartment. The place was as she expected it. A mess. There were clothes and spare papers and magazines and empty plates and various wired from electrical equipment spread out over the floor.

"Lara." Alex murmured, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly. "Oh God, I thought I lost you." He kissed her, hungrily pressing his lips to hers. 

Lara broke the kiss, smiling to herself and walked towards the living room. She sat down on the couch, when she suddenly noticed a large black bra that was sitting on the coffee table. Lara picked it up and turned to Alex.

"Oh, that's, uh, that's not mine." Alex muttered. He snatched it from her and tossed it behind the kitchen counter.

"That's. . . good to know." Lara said. _Not his? It probably belongs to his fiancé. _Lara suddenly remembered the fiancé. She remembered that he had been cheating on her with Lara and she remembered the feeling of worthlessness that had accompanied the discovery. _Change of plan. . . _Lara thought.

"Alex, come here." Lara said, holding out her arms to him. Alex sank onto the couch next to her, kissing her fiercely. He murmured her name and ran his fingers through her hair. Lara pinned him against the couch, straddling his waist and smiling. _My turn._

***

"Hmm, that was nice." Lara said, sitting up.

"Hey, Lara. Lay back down, I want to hold you." Alex said, finally satisfied that he was back with the woman he loved.

"Not now, Alex." Lara said, dismissively. "I have some things to do." Lara said, she got up and began to dress. Alex sat up, holding the blanket against his waist. "What do you mean, Lara? You just got here." Alex asked, confused.

"Oh, well, I wouldn't want to impose on any plans that you might have." Lara said, leaning down to pull on her boots.

"You're not imposing at all, Lara. I thought we could spend the day together tomorrow, or just stay here, don't leave now."

Lara finished lacing her boots and looked around for her jacket. "You shouldn't be so clingy Alex. Most girls find that very unattractive."

"Clingy? Lara, what are you talking about?" Alex demanded. Lara slipped into her jacket and began to walk towards the door to Alex's apartment.

"Lara, wait!" Alex practically shouted. He wrapped the blanket around his waist and ran after her. Lara had almost reached the door when Alex caught up with her. "Lara, don't leave. I love you, I want to be with you, just stay, I- I-" Alex stuttered. "Look Lara. I don't want to have a fling with you. I never did, I want all of you."

"Aww, that's sweet Alex." Lara said, in a mocking tone. "You should try writing for Hallmark." With that, Lara walked out of his apartment, got into her car and drove away, leaving Alex still dazed.

Alex stood at the doorway in shock, not comprehending what had just happened. "Lara?" He murmured, expecting her to drive back and have only been playing a game on him. But after the sounds of Lara's car faded there was silence. Complete silence. Alex walked back inside, shutting the door after him. He walked over to the couch and sat down. Suddenly the phone rang. Alex looked around and located his cellular before picking it up and holding it against his ear.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Hey Alex. This is Sam."

"Sam, I need to ask you something about women."

"Oh no, what happened now?"

"Well, Lara came over and I thought that she had come to talk and we didn't talk at all and afterwards she just got dressed and left. She didn't tell me where she was staying or anything."

"What?"

"She didn't even believe me when I said that I loved her."

"Alex, she used you."

"Huh?"

"Oh my God." Sam laughed. "She walked in, laid you like flooring and left afterwards. She used you, my friend."

"But, I told her that I didn't want her just for sex and-"

"That doesn't mean that she's not going to use you for sex. Feel better, huh Alex? Most men would kill to have Lara Croft use them for sex."

"Sam, you don't understand!" Alex shouted. "I love her!"

"Hey, calm down, Alex. You don't have to tell _me_."

"God, I am such an asshole!" Alex shouted.

"Alex, please calm down, take a nice hot bath, eat something, good to bed then call me when you're feel better, eh?" Without saying good-bye Sam hung up. Alex glared at the phone and without thinking he hurled it at the wall. The phone bounced off, the plastic shattered and the components all spilled onto the floor. Alex sunk onto the floor. He felt completely worthless and alone. Lara, the only woman he loved, was gone and now he was nothing more then a sex toy for her. Her words had cut him deeper then any sword. He covered his face in his hands and for the first time in his adult life, Alex West began to cry.

***

"Isis? Are you there?" Lara asked, holding the phone between her head and her shoulder as she began to unpack her things. Lara had gotten back to her hotel room and had felt powerful and in control for the first time in months. But she had begun to wonder if she had done the right thing.

"Yeah, I'm here, Lara. What's on your mind?" Isis asked.

"I'm having man problems again." Lara said.

"Hide the bodies in the attic and kill anyone who asks questions."

"Isis, seriously."

"Okay, okay, what happened?"

"Well, I got involved with Alex and it turned out to be a fling and I was all upset, then I found out that I was pregnant and I didn't tell him and he came to the house and he attacked Bryce then Gwen told me to tell him so I rang and his fiancé picked up then I went to but then I saw him and I got so angry and I-"

"Whoa! Lara, slow down honey. Let me recap. You went after West and had a fling. You're now pregnant?"

"Yes."

"You didn't tell him about the baby, but then you decided that you should because Gwen told you?"

"Yes."

"Gwen? Of all people?"

"What's wrong with Gwen."

"Lara, she doesn't date! If you're going to ask for relationship advice, you might want to ask someone who's actually been in a relationship."

"Thank you for telling me now."

"My pleasure. Now what happened after you found out that Alex had a fiancé?"

"I went to go see him in person."

"And?"

"I went with every intention of telling him, but when I got there, there was a black bra on the coffee table and I got so angry with him. And I decided to hurt him the same way he hurt me. So we slept together then I left right after and he was practically begging me to stay and he said that he loved me and I just walked out on him."

"Lara, you are almost as stupid as he is."

"Hey!"

"Don't interrupt me, Lara. You have no idea how senseless what you did was. You sank directly to his level and you've just hurt him probably as much as he hurt you, not to mention he _still_ doesn't know about the baby. As for this fiancé, I am having some serious doubts that one even existed."

"What do you mean?"

"A fiancé don't appear out of no where, Lara. Maybe an old girlfriend or a screw pal, but not a fiancé."

"A screw pal? What in the world is that?"

"You know, you've just broken up with someone, you're upset and kinda horny. So what do you do? Call on your screw pal. He comes over, you have some wild kinky sex and then he goes home, no strings attached."

"I've never heard of that before." Lara paused, glancing over at the terrace. "So you don't think that he has a fiancé?"

"Not at all. Besides, the tabloids printed a story about Alex buying a bag of chips at a corner shop, do you think he would be engaged without anyone knowing about it? Especially you. I mean, Alex might be a little shady but he's not a sex starved playboy. I don't think that he would have cheated on a fiancé with you, let alone said that he loved you. If he was solely interested in sex then he wouldn't have stopped you from leaving."

Lara paused, looking down at her shoes.

"Lara honey, you just screwed  up." Isis said.

"I think that's pretty obvious now, Isis, no need to point it out again."

"No, there's all the need." Isis said. "I have never found a guy who cares about me as much as Alex cares about you and you completely throw it away. Now your baby is going to pay for this, cause I very much doubt that Alex is going to want you back after what you did."

"Now what am I suppose to do?"

"I haven't the slightest. I've never done anything this stupid before. If you really want to be with him you had better get over your pride and get down on your knees cause getting him back is not going to be easy."

"Well, I'm always up for a challenge." Lara said, trying to sound casual.


	11. Without interference

***

"Alex? Are you alright?" Sam asked, kneeling down next to where Alex sat on the floor.

"Sam?" Alex asked. "I didn't hear you come in." He looked up at his friend.

"Dear God Alex, are you crying?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Alex muttered wiping the tears from his cheeks. "Go ahead, make fun of me. I can't possibly feel any worse now." He said.

"I don't believe it." Sam said, sitting down next to Alex. "Lara Croft made you cry." He glanced at his friend. "You really do love her, don't you?"

"Yes."

"So, what are you going to do?" Sam asked.

"I don't know." Alex ran his hands through his hair. "I've got to get her back, Sam. I can't live without her."

"Uh, Alex? She just used you. Why would you want her back?"

"She was probably upset about me and Bryce getting into a fist fight or how I didn't tell her that I was leaving or she might have been mad about that stupid note that I left."

"That didn't answer my question."

"I don't even know, Sam. But she is the only woman I've ever met that I just like to be with. You know, just to talk to and be around. There's just so much shit going on and I haven't actually talked to _her_. So many people have been interfering and their making the situation worse. I just want to be with her. Everything was so less complicated over Christmas."

"That's because it was a fling. Look me in the eyes and honestly tell me that you were thinking about the future at any time when you were with her. It was good while it lasted so you didn't question it. Then when the opportunity arose you left and terminated the fling. However, after the relationship was over, you realized that you had real feelings for her."

Alex laughed. "You would make one hell of a shrink." He chuckled.

"Why thank you." Sam smiled.

"But, I think Champagne might have talked to Lara before she came over."

"Champagne was here? Good God, is she still after you?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"That woman scares the living daylights out of me." Sam rubbed his eyes.

"Me too. And did you see her new boobs? I mean, damn. I don't think the doctors can put much more silicone into them."

"She got _another_ boob job? But getting back to what you were saying, are you sure Champagne talked to Lara?"

"Not really. But she might have."

"Hmmm, well, I don't know what to tell you, my friend. This is much more complicated then I know what to advise for."

"Well, thanks for trying." Alex said.

"Hey, no problem. And if you ever need a best man, I'm there."

"I'll keep that in mind." Alex smirked.

***

"Okay." Alex said to himself. "I've tried, e-mailing, snail mailing, going in person, telephoning, sending telegrams and even a singing telegram and no answers to any of them." He flopped back onto his couch. "I might as well get one of those air planes that spell out words in the sky." Alex suddenly looked around. "And I'm talking to myself. Great. Now I've really lost it."

It had been over a month since Lara had come to visit Alex and he still hadn't been able to contact her. Champagne finally got the hint that Alex didn't want anything to do with her and left for the states. While Sam was doing all that he could to help out even though nothing was working. Alex had started sending him out to the newsstands every morning to check the tabloids if there was any mention of Lara. So far Lara had been photographed taking Donnica back to the vet for a spading operating and Bryce had gotten into the papers for one of his mechanical creations. But Alex was out of ideas to get Lara back into his life.

"Hey Alex!" Sam called as he walked through the door to Alex's apartment. He raced into the living room where Alex was sitting and shoved a newspaper into his face. "I found this, this morning!"

_LARA CROFT TAKEN TO HOSPITAL, DOCTORS FEAR IT MAY BE FATAL!_

The headline screamed. Alex snatched the paper from Sam's hands and began to skim it.

"Oh no. . . Sam I've got to-"

"Your car is unlocked." Sam said.

"Thank you, so much!" Alex grabbed his jacket and his keys and ran outside. 

"Hey, Alex! Don't forget this!" Sam called, he tossed Alex a small black velvet box.

"Thanks! Bye Sam!" Alex called as the door closed after him.

***

Alex arrived at the Croft manor around ten that day. He looked down at himself before getting out of the car. He was in an old faded pair of jeans and a dirty tee-shirt. He had only had time to grab his old worn sneakers before he left the house. _No shining armor, but it still should do the trick. . ._ Alex mused.

He hopped out of his car and ran to the front door of the Croft manor. He rang the bell, then slid against the wall, out of view. Hillary opened the door only a crack and when he didn't see anyone, he opened it wider and looked around. Alex shoved past Hillary and made a break for the stairs.

"Wh-What!? Alex West!" Hillary shouted from the bottom of the stairs as he watched the Tomb Raider leap up the stairs three at a time.

"Nice to see you too, Hilly!" Alex shouted as he ran down the hall.

Bryce removed his gaze from his computer monitor only to see Alex dart into Lara's bedroom and shut the door behind him. "Cor, what the bloody hell was that?"

Hillary opened a the bottom drawer of Bryce's file cabinet and pulled out two handguns. He tossed one to Bryce. "Come along, then." Hillary said. "No time to lose."

"Right."

Meanwhile. . .

"Lara!?" Alex asked frantically as he looked around Lara's bedroom. He closed the door after him and began searching for her. Alex threw the covers off of her bed only to find nothing underneath them. He looked out onto the terrace. Suddenly, the lady in question padded out of the bathroom, clad in only a white terry cloth bathrobe and a towel around her damp hair and a look of confusion on her face.

"Alex?" She asked. "What are you-" That was all Lara got out before Alex practically tackled her in a hug.

"Oh my God, I was so worried." Alex said, before kissing her lips.

"Worried about what?" Lara asked after the kiss was broken, her wet hair tumbled out of the towel.

"About you!" Alex said. "The tabloids said that you had been admitted to the hospital two days ago, they thought it was fatal."

Lara chuckled. "I'm fine. I accidentally dislocated my wrist while training, but the doctors just popped it back into place and sent me home."

"Thank God! I thought I lost you. Again." Alex added.

"Do you mean to tell me that you drove to the estates, without even getting properly dress all because you were worried about me?"

"Yes." Alex murmured. "God, I love you." He said, holding her tightly.

The two stood in silence for several seconds before Hillary broke the stillness of the moment.

"Lara!?" Hillary shouted through the door to her room. "Are you alright?!"

"It's okay, Hillary. I've got him in a sleeper hold!" Lara called back. "He's just about to loose consciousness! I'll be out in a second with his body!" She laughed and turned back to Alex.

Alex took her hands in his a very serious expression on his face. "Look Lara, before we do anything else I just want you to know that I love you and I never used you, I'm just not a good writer and I didn't know how to say that I had to go back to work and I tried calling but Hillary wouldn't let me talk to you and I sent you about half a million letters and everyone kept interfering and-"

"Slow down, Alex. What about your fiancé?" Lara asked, a frown creasing her face.

"I don't have one. The girl I think that you talked to was an ex-girlfriend who was trying to get back with me. But after being with you, no one can even come close." 

"Alex, I-"

"No, don't say anything, not yet. I have to tell you this. Lara, you are the only woman that I want to be with for the rest of my life."

"Alex. . . What are you saying?" Lara asked.

Alex got down on one knee and produced a small black velvet box from the back pocket of his jeans. "Marry me, Lara." He murmured opening the box. Inside sat a simple but elegant diamond ring. Lara gasped as tears began to well in her eyes.

"Alex, it's beautiful." She murmured. "But you're not upset about last month?" She asked, not having entirely forgiven herself for her actions that night.

"No, not at all. It's in the past Lara and I don't want to dwell there."

"Alex, there's something that I need to tell you before we get engaged though." Lara said. She slowly pulled her terry cloth robe apart, placing her hands on the prominent swell of her stomach.

"Lara. . . When?" Alex murmured, practically speechless. He had noticed Lara's increasing waist line a month previously, but he knew better then to ask a woman he was making love to if she had gained weight.

"Over Christmas, Alex. I'm about four months now." Lara said. "Are you sure you want to continue this proposal of engagement?"

"Of course." Alex took the ring from the box and slid it on to Lara's ring finger. He smiled at her as he gently kissed her lips. "I love you, Lara Croft." He murmured.

"I love you too, Alex West." Lara said, smiling back at him.

Suddenly, Hillary and Bryce burst through the door with their pistols raised. Lara pulled her robe around herself and tied the white belt around it.

"Lara, dear, are you alright?" Hillary asked, eyeing Alex with disgust.

"Yes, Hillary. In fact, I'm more then alright." Lara showed him her ring. "I'm engaged!" She said.

"Bryce, aim for his head." Hillary said, cocking the gun. Lara gave them both an annoyed look before taking the handguns from both of them. She looked over Bryce's gun.

"Bryce, you didn't even have the safety off. If you're going to try and kill someone you might want to do that first."

"Lara, have you lost your marbles?" Bryce demanded.

"Come along, Bryce." Hillary said. "We promised Gwenavere that we wouldn't meddle." He took Bryce by the collar and began to drag him out of the room.

"Oh sure, forget that when Alex bursts in here and suddenly remember when I try to clean his clock. Hillary! Let go of my shirt, this is the only clean one that I have!"

Lara closed the door after the two and turned back to Alex. "You know, it's a bit stupid how we both kept listening to other people and having everyone interfere in our relationship when all we needed to do was talk." She said, slipping her arms around his neck.

"I will never take anyone's advice ever again." Alex murmured.

"Well, do take some advice and wash up before lunch." Lara smiled. "You smell horrible."


	12. To Mr. & Mrs. Alex West

***

"So, Lara, do you want a big wedding or a small one?" Alex asked, running his fingers through Lara's waist length hair.

"I don't want a big wedding." Lara said. "Too much hassle. And I'd have to wear one of those huge white dresses."

"You would look beautiful in a white dress." Alex said, kissing the side of her neck. Lara was sitting at her desk in her junk room and had been attempting to work when Alex found where she was and had come to pay her a visit.

"I hate long dresses and elegant hair styles and things like that. My father wanted me to be a little lady so he would dress me up in those outfits but I would manage to come home looking like I had survived a war. My father thought it was adorable though, so eventually he stopped trying to prevent me from learning about tomb raiding and the ancient worlds and he began to teach me." Lara murmured, she felt her eyes beginning to water at the memories.

Alex smiled thoughtfully, pulling Lara from her chair and into his lap where he sat on the floor. He brushed her hair back and kissed her lips.

"Hey Lara, do you know if the baby is a boy or a girl yet?" Alex asked, stroking the swell of her stomach.

"No. The doctors won't be able to tell for another month I believe." Lara smiled. "Until then we'll have to guess."

"Hmm, I hope we have a baby girl, who looks just like you." Alex said. "But doesn't have so many sidekicks."

"Alex." Lara chided. "You won't mind Hillary and Bryce as much when you get used to them. Besides, Hillary has taken care of me for almost all of my life, he's one of my dearest friends."

"And what about Bryce?"

"Well, he can be quite helpful when he stays focused." Lara said.

Suddenly, the secret door to Lara's junk room opened and Hillary poked his head in. "Lara, there's a phone call for you, I believe it's Gwenavere." Hillary said, eyeing Alex suspiciously.

"Oh!" Lara got up. "I'll be right back." She told Alex. "Don't move." Lara walked out of the junk room and to the phone in the kitchen. She yawned and glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. It was almost midnight. Lara picked up the phone.

"Hello?" She asked, only to realize that she was talking to a dial tone. Lara set the phone down and glared at Hillary. "Gwenavere never did call, did she?"

"No, but that's not the point. Lara, do you have any idea what you're doing?" Hillary demanded, moving closer so Alex would not be able to hear their discussion. "This man broke your heart and left you at the first opportunity. Now you're going to marry him?!"

"Hillary, what's passed is passed. We are both to blame for the hurt we distributed to each other. Besides, I love him and he is the father of my child. I have made my own decision, Hillary, you can't change it."

Hillary sighed. "You are as stubborn as your father, you know."

Lara smiled.

"Love, I understand that this is your decision, but I want to know that you're making the right one. You're mean too much for me to give you away so easily."

Lara hugged him. "Hillary, you've been my dearest friend and guardian angel for years. I appreciate your concern and I'll be fine. I'm going to have my own family soon. I just want you to be happy for me."

"I am, Lara." Hillary murmured, hugging her back. "Or at least I'll try to be." Hillary added.

***

Three months later. . .

"Alex, you are not painting the nursery pink." Lara said, flatly.

"It's not pink, it's 'Dusty Rose'." Alex said, reading the name of the shade of paint that he was showing Lara.

"It's pink." Lara responded. She rested her hand on her swollen stomach and looked around at the other shades of paint that were neatly organized on little cards that were spread around the dinning room table.

"I like the green." Bryce said, holding up a card of forest greens.

"Yes, that's lovely." Lara said.

"Oh sure, take his side." Alex grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Alex, but if I was a baby and I had to wake up to pink every morning I'd probably hang myself on those god awful curtains that Gwenavere sent." Bryce said.

"I thought those curtains were quite charming." Hillary said, shifting through several cards of blue. "I just thought the gold thread around the daisies was a bit much."

"Ah, how about this color?" Alex said, showing Lara another card.

"Alex, it's still pink." Lara said.

"What's wrong with pink?" Alex asked.

"Oi, that's it!" Bryce said.

Everyone turned to stare at Bryce strangely.

"Uhh. . ." Bryce looked around sheepishly. "Sorry, I just figured out why my MP3 player broke."

"Oh. . . Good to know." Lara said. She went back to sorting through the cards of paint colors.

"Hey, look at this." Alex said, holding up a card. "It's not pink." He offered.

"Alex, I refuse to paint our daughter's bedroom 'Sex Siren Red'." Lara stated.

Alex glanced at the name on the paint card. "Oh." He put the card down. "I didn't see that." He said, sheepishly.

"How about this?" Hillary asked, holding up a card. "It's called 'Blue Purple Swirl'."

"It's a little drab, don't you think?" Bryce asked. "Now, this, 'Spring Violets', is nice and cheery." He held up the card.

Alex looked over the card. "Well, it's not pink, but it's nice."

"Yes, that is very nice." Lara said, looking over the color. "Are we in agreement?" She asked glancing at Alex then at Hillary. She smiled. "Then 'Spring Violets' it is. Now, for the play room."

Lara and Alex had been married for three months. Instead of planning a wedding, they decided to elope and had gone on a wonderful honey moon to the Hawaiian islands. They were still getting used to the martial art of compromise but were still very much in love and both becoming very excited about the upcoming birth of their daughter. After the honeymoon, Lara had gone back to her doctor where he confirmed the sex of their baby and they had started planning out a nursery and a playroom for her along with a proper name and everything imaginable that a new baby would need.

The phone rang. Hillary looked up from the color cards. "I'll get it." He said, getting up as Lara took another card of pink from Alex and playfully swatted him with it. He smiled at the two and went to the phone in the kitchen. He picked it up and placed it against his ear. "Hello?" He asked.

"Alex West?" The whispering voice over the line asked.

"No, he's busy at the moment. Might I take a message?" Hillary asked, politely.

"I'm gonna get you, Alex West." The voice sneered.

"I beg your pardon."

"The little whore too. I'll cut her up and I'll take your baby. Then you'll be sorry, Alex West. You'll be really sorry."

"Who is this?"

"You don't deserve to live." The voice rasped. "I'll kill you both."

Hillary hung up. Staring at the phone for several seconds. He shook off the disturbing words and walked back out to the dinning room.

"Who was it, Hillary?" Lara asked.

"Oh, no one. Just a wrong number." Hillary lied. It was probably just some teenager making a prank call or one of Alex's friends who had a sick sense of humor. It wasn't anything to be alarmed about. He told himself. Nothing at all.

***

Alex glanced at the cardboard box that was sitting on the kitchen table as he entered the kitchen. He set his coat and keys down and looked it over. Lara was out shopping with Hillary and Gwenavere. Actually, Lara was shopping with Gwenavere while Hillary got to carry all of the packages. Alex had just returned from getting more paint for the nursery. Bryce was on a date with a real flesh and blood girl instead of one of his many internet friends. Alex wasn't about to let him live it down either. Alex glanced at the package again.

_Mr. & Mrs. Alex West_

The package read. No return address. Alex shrugged and sliced the tape from the box with a small pocket knife. He opened the package and pulled out another box that was wrapped in yellow and blue wrapping paper with smiling ducks on it.

_Must be a baby present from one of Lara's friends._ Alex though. _Hmm, might as well take a little peek._ He smiled, sliding his fingers under the tape and peeling it back. He opened the smaller box and pulled the tissue paper away. On the bottom of the box were two cloth dolls. 

One male, one female. Each one had been cut with a scissors and was spattered with a red substance to represent blood. The female doll was missing half of her hair and the male's face had been torn off. Across the clothing the dolls were wearing were scrawled two names.

_Alex. . . Lara. . ._

Alex dropped the dolls and backed away from the table. _Holy shit. . . _He thought. _What the hell is going on?_


	13. Dusty Rose

Alex ran to the phone and quickly punched in the number for Hillary's cell phone. He stood, grinding his teeth and staring at the dolls that sat on the table. _Come on! Pick up!_

Meanwhile. . .

"So you have got to tell me about this new boyfriend of yours." Lara said, taking a sip of her café latte.

"What do you want to know about him?" Her companion asked.

"How is he in bed?"

Gwenavere laughed. "You have gotten much more blatant in your old age, Lara."

"Come on, Gwenavere. Remember the time you called me in the middle of the night crying because your date had suddenly gotten all nervous and ran out on you and you thought it was because he didn't find you attractive enough? It would be nice to know if there were any improvements in that department."

"Yes, tons of improvement." Gwenavere smiled, winking at Lara.

Hillary held the newspaper up, blocking his face from the two women. _Being locked in a room with two flesh eating mummies would be a walk in the park compared to listen to two women discussing their sex lives! _Hillary thought.

"Are you and Alex still able to maintain sexual relations?" Gwenavere asked.

"Bearly, but we have found some ways to get around that." Lara smirked. "And I can orgasm so much quicker since I got pregnant."

_What ever I did to deserve this, I'm sorry. _Hillary thought.

Suddenly, Hillary cell phone rang. He jumped and put the newspaper down, glad for the distraction. "If you'll excuse me ladies, I'll be right back." Hillary said, getting up from the table in the small restaurant.

"Certainly, Hillary." Gwenavere said.

Hillary walked outside before gratefully retrieving his cell phone and hitting the 'talk' button.

"Hello?" Hillary asked.

"Hillary? This is Alex. Is Lara alright?"

"Alex, you sound worried, what's wrong?"

"Is Lara alright!?" Alex demanded.

"Yes, she's fine. And very talkative." Hillary added. "What is the matter, Alex?"

"Look, I just got a package from some sicko with two mutilated dolls and our names written on them."

Hillary went white. "Oh no. . . Alex, last night I received a phone call that threatened you and Lara. I just thought it was a prank call or something."

"What?! Dear God, it looks like we have a stalker."

"You had better call the police. Should I inform Lara?"

"Hell no! Not after her doctor bitched to me for over an hour about how I should make sure Lara doesn't have to worry about anything and has no stress on her. Look, I'll handle it. Can you keep Lara and Gwen occupied for another hour or two?"

"I do believe the two can keep themselves occupied. They have yet to run out of things to talk about." Hillary muttered.

"Great. Thanks Hillary, see you later."

"Good-bye Alex."

Hillary hung up and slid the small cellular phone into his jacket pocket. He gazed back into the restaurant where Lara and Gwenavere sat still carrying on an animated conversation. He sighed and slid back through the door to the restaurant.

***

_Alex stepped into the room. The nursery? It had to be. The room was painted violet with large pink ducks all over the room. Alex walked over to the large white crib that was in the middle of the room. The crib was empty. Alex looked around, pulling the soft white blankets from the wooden frame. Suddenly, noticed that there was something on the bottom of the crib. _

_Blood. Thick, fresh blood. Alex threw the blankets back into the crib. He ran from the nursery. _

_"Lara!" He called, looking over the stairs and the bottom floor. He didn't see her. "Lara! Where are you?!" He ran into their bedroom. He stopped and froze when he saw the blood on the floor. There was a trail of blood leading into the bathroom. Alex stepped slowly into the bathroom. _

_Lara was laying by the sink, her face had been slashed, some blood had dried to her face while more was oozing from her open wounds. "NO!!!!" Alex howled. He picked Lara up, cradling her against him. "NO! LARA!!!!!" He screamed. He pulled back, then he realized that she was a doll. She was the doll that had been sent to him. "Lara?" Alex asked. "Lara?"_

"Alex!" When Alex awoke Lara was shaking him insistently by his shoulders. "Alex, what is wrong?" Lara asked.

"Huh?" Alex sat up and looked around. He was back in the bedroom, the clock on the nightstand read two in the morning. He turned back to Lara. There was no blood, no torn fabric on her pale blue night gown. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.

"Oh God. . ." He murmured, resting his hand on her stomach.

"Alex, are you alright?" Lara asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare." Alex said. He held her against him and kissed her forehead. He knew that he should tell Lara about the threats, but he didn't want to scare her.

"Alex, what were you dreaming about?" Lara asked.

"Nothing, Lara, nothing. It's over now, let's just go back to sleep."

"I can't sleep, Alex." Lara said.

"Why not?" Had she found out about the calls and the package?

"It's hard to sleep when you have another human being inside of you. Not to mention that I feel like a cow."

"Come on, Lara." Alex said, messaging her back. "You look adorable pregnant."

"I don't feel so adorable." Lara said.

"Well, it's just two more months. Then we'll have our own little one to look after."

"Did we ever decide what we were going to name her?"

"No, I don't think so. If I remember correctly we had a fight then we had to make up and by then we were too tired to do anything but sleep."

"Hmm, I think we fought because you wanted to name her 'Tiffany'."

"What's wrong with 'Tiffany'?"

"Nothing, but I don't want my daughter growing up to be a fluffy little waif. And with all the pink you've been showing me I think she might."

"Alright, alright. You win. No Tiffanies, no pink."

"Deal."

"How about 'Dusty Rose'?"


	14. Corazon

"Veronica." Lara said. "That's a lovely name."

"Eh, put it on the 'maybe' list." Alex said, wrinkling his nose and flipping through another baby name book.

Lara wrote 'Veronica' down on. She looked up at the large clock in the living room. It was around eight that night. Bryce was on a second date with his flesh and blood girl while Hillary was taking his eldest niece to a movie. This left Lara and Alex home alone so they could pick out a name for their unborn daughter. Lara was laying on the chaise lounge, after finding that is was very comfortable and helped her back. Alex was sitting on the floor next to the chaise lounge with several stacks of baby name books around him.

"Here's one! Adora, that's a sweet name." Alex said.

"Adora?"

"Or Xena. Like the Warrior Princess."

"That's going to be a little tough for her to live up to." Lara smiled.

"Hey, her mother could give good old Xena a run for her money." Alex smiled, kissing her palm.

The phone rang. Alex sighed and got up. "It must be Hillary begging me to pick him up."

"Come now, Alex. Hillary can handle a thirteen year old girl for a few hours." Lara chided.

"Yeah, a normal thirteen year old, this one happens to have a crush on all of the members of Blue and the guys in Hear'Say. I've said it before and I'll say it again, too much pop music rots the brain."

Lara laughed. "You're still sore about someone mistaking you for a Backstreet Boy, aren't you?"

"Come on, Lara, they should at least called me 'Kevin' but 'AJ'?"

"Just answer the phone, you insufferable AJ look-a-like." Lara smiled.

Alex blew her a kiss before walking over to the phone and picking up the receiver.

"Talk to me." Alex said.

"Did you like my present, Alex West?" A raspy voice asked.

"Who is this?" Alex demanded.

"I'm gonna kill you Alex West. I'm gonna kill you and your bitch. Then I'm gonna take your baby."

"Who the hell is this?!" Alex shouted.

"I'm gonna steal the baby, you can't stop me. You're gonna get what you deserve, Alex West." There was a 'click' and the phone went dead.

"Shit." Alex hung up the phone, picked it up and hit '*69'. He pressed the phone to his ear and listened as a recorded voice picked up.

"The number you are trying to reach is out of your calling area." The voice said. Alex slammed the phone down before the voice could suggest that he called the operator.

"Alex, why were you shouting?" Lara asked. She had walked over to him, a worried look on her face.

"Nothing Lara, just a solicitor." Alex lied, taking Lara in his arms and resting his hand on her stomach.

"A solicitor for what?" Lara asked, bewildered.

Alex was about to answer when he felt a gentle movement against his hand. "Hey, the baby kicked." He murmured.

Lara laughed. "You think it's cute only because you don't have her kicking you all day and night."

"Probably." Alex smiled. "Now, let's get back to getting a name for our little one."

"Agreed. But we're not naming her Xena."

***

"So Bryce, tell me all about this flesh and blood girl." Lara smiled, sitting down next to Bryce at the dinning room table.

Bryce blushed a bright red as he pushed his breakfast of burned scrambled eggs around his plate. "Well, what do you want to know about her?" He finally asked.

"What's she like? She's got to be pretty special to get a second date out of you." Lara said.

"Well, she's really smart and she's fluent in four different computer languages."

"Uh huh, what else?"

"She's really nice and she had a kitten named Mattie. And she's really pretty."

"What does she look like?"

"Blue eyes, pale, red hair, she looks a lot like Nicole Kidman."

"I thought you liked blondes."

"I never said that."

"His poster of Emma Bunton might suggest otherwise." Hillary called from the kitchen.

"Oi! Don't you start on Emma!" Bryce said, defensively. He had had a crush on the young singer for years.

"What does she do for a living?" Lara asked.

"She's a software programmer for Eidos. She's even letting me come over to help her test out some new games and check it for bugs and things like that."

"What's her name?"

"Corazon."

"That's a lovely name."

"Yeah, her mother is Spanish."

"You'll have to bring her over some time, I'd love to met her."

"She's really shy."

"You should invite her for dinner one night. Hopefully, Hillary might be able to cook something without burning it." Lara said, eyeing the eggs.

"Actually, I cooked this myself." Bryce said. "I thought it was pretty good for a first attempt. I got a little tired of TV diners." He said, sheepishly.

 "Hello everyone! How are we this glorious morning?" Alex asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"You're in a rather good mood today." Bryce commented.

Lara and Alex smiled at each other before Hillary came out of the kitchen with a bowl of scrambled eggs and a plate of bacon.

"Good morning, Alex." Hillary said. "I pray you slept well."

"Very well." Alex smiled.

"Well, you can go ahead and serve yourselves, since Bryce decided to try and poison himself I thought to do a buffet style breakfast." Hillary returned to the kitchen and emerged with more plates of food.

"This looks wonderful, Hillary." Lara said, getting herself a plate.

"Thank you, Lara."

"And I can cook." Bryce said, pointing his fork at Hillary. "Just not eggs."

"Or anything else that doesn't require a microwave." Hillary added.

Alex smiled and sat down. The kitchen phone rang. Alex moved to get it.

"Sit and eat, Alex." Hillary said walking back into the kitchen. "If you started answering the phones I'd have nothing to do." He smiled. "Hello?" Hillary asked after he picked up the phone.

"Did you have a good night's sleep Alex West? Cause I'm gonna kill you. I'm waiting until you're away from the house and I'm gonna kill the bitch. Then I'll kill you. Cause you deserve it."

Hillary hung up. _Not again. . . _"Alex, could I see you for a second, please?" Hillary asked.

"Sure," Alex got up and walked into the kitchen. "What?" He asked.

"Our mystery called just rang." Hillary said, softly.

"I got a call last night too." Alex told him, sighing.

"This is getting out of hand. What did Scotland Yard say to do?"

"Not much. Since we don't have a trace on the phone lines and there's no one who has it in for us there's little to nothing that they can do. And I thought American cops were useless."

"Alex, try to be polite to them." Hillary said. "Why don't you get Lara out of the house for a few hours and I'll call them back and find out how to get a trace on the phone."

"Okay." Alex nodded. "Do you think she suspects anything?" He asked, glancing out into the dinning room where Lara and Bryce were chatting.

"I don't think so." Hillary said. "I hope not, anyways."

***

"And this is where I live." Bryce said, gesturing towards the trailer.

"In here?" Corazon asked, wrinkling her nose. "Why do you live in here when you can live in that beautiful house?"

"I'm a free spirit." Bryce smiled. "Want to come inside?" He asked, opening the door to his living quarters.

"Not now." Corazon said. "I've always wanted to see the manor. Will you give me a guided tour?" She asked, sweetly.

Bryce's heart melted. "Sure." He said. He led Corazon into the house. Alex and Lara were out and Hillary had already retired so the pair had the house pretty much to themselves.

Bryce started the tour of Croft manor with his sections, including the computer room, the sparing room and showing her Simon and Simon's newly constructed twin brother, Paul. However, Corazon seemed a little distracted. She kept glancing around the great hall and licking her lips at Bryce and eyeing the upper rooms.

"Do you want to see the kitchens?" Bryce asked.

"No, I want to see the upstairs." Corazon whispered, stroking his arm.

"Ummm. . . Okay. . ." Bryce said. He was practically paralyzed.

"Come on." Corazon lead Bryce up the flight of stairs and looked around at the different bed rooms. "Which one is the master bedroom?" She asked.

"Lara and Alex's bedroom? The one on the right- wait a minute, we can't-" Bryce wasn't able to finish his sentence as Corazon grabbed his arm and dragged him into the master bedroom, laughing. She stopped and looked around once she entered the room.

"Wow, this place is really nice." She said.

"Come on, Corazon, we've got to get out of here. Alex and Lara won't like us snooping around their things." Bryce said.

"Who cares about what they think?" Corazon said, slinking over to Bryce and beginning to unbutton his jeans.

"Whoa, hold on Corazon. I mean, we've only been on two dates."

"You talk too much, Bryce." Corazon said, unbuttoning his trousers.


	15. Groupies and long movies

***

Bryce sighed, brushing a strand of Corazon's red hair away from her face. Corazon brushed his hand away. She and Bryce were laying on the floor of the master bedroom wrapped a blanket from the bed. He was still exhausted from their love making, but also felt uneasy about the leap in his relationship with Corazon.

"What do you want to do now?" Corazon asked.

"Oh, uh, I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I want to do it in their bed again." Corazon smirked.

"Cor, do you ever stop to think that what you're doing is wrong?" Bryce asked.

"No, of course not." Corazon smiled. "Come on, Bryce. Don't be such a wimp. Not why don't you get another condom and I'll get ready to go again." Corazon hopped up and just about made it to the bathroom when Bryce heard the sound of the front door opening.

"Bugger!" Bryce almost shouted. "They're home! Get your clothes!" Bryce shouted, tossing Corazon's bra and her jeans at her.

"Great! I can met them then!" Corazon said, hopping into her jeans.

"Aren't you going to bother with your knickers?" Bryce asked.

"Maybe a little later." Corazon said.

Suddenly, Bryce heard Lara and Alex laughing as they started up the stairs to their room. "Bugger!" Bryce hissed. He buttoned his jeans, grabbed his shirt, took Corazon's wrist and pulled her out onto the balcony. He closed the glass windows after him and climbed over the railing and onto the drainpipe.

"Come on, Cor. We can get back to my trailer this way." Bryce said, sliding down. "Hurry Cor!" Bryce said, after he had reached the ground. 

"But I want to meet them!" Corazon hissed.

"Later!" Bryce promised. He looked up as Corazon delicately swung her legs over the balcony and slid down the drainpipe.

"Let's get back to the trailer." Bryce said. "The assault course can get freaky after dark." Corazon walked up to Bryce and slapped him.

"You're a wally!" She shouted. "You are no fun and you don't want to let me meet anyone! Forget it, Bryce, it's over."

"Wha. . ." Bryce couldn't even finish his sentence before Corazon stormed away. He trailed after her, calling her name, but she ignored him, got into her car and drove off. "Corazon!" Bryce wailed into the night. But it was too late. All that was left was swirl of dust.

Bryce trudged into his trailer and flopped onto his bed. "This was a horrible night." He said to himself. "Horrible." Without anything better to do and knowing that there would be hell to pay in the morning for messing up Lara and Alex's room Bryce turned off all the lights and went to sleep.

***

"Bryce! Bryce, I know you're in there, open up!" Bryce awoke to shouting. He looked around.

"What?" He asked. Then he realized that Alex was standing outside of his trailer. He got up, rubbing his tired eyes and finally opened the door. Alex stepped in and closed it after him.

"Good morning, Bryce." Alex said. Even Bryce knew that he was in big trouble.

"Morning." Bryce said sheepishly.

Alex glanced around the trailer. "Where's your girlfriend? Did she go home early?"

"Well, she kind of broke up with me, then went home."

"Was this before or after you two had sex in our bed?"

"Oh, um, sorry about that." Bryce turned a bright red and avoided Alex's eyes.

"Yeah. You might want to return these to your lady friend." Alex held up Corazon's panties. Bryce turned a brighter red and took them from Alex. "Next time, try your own bed, huh?"

"Sorry, Alex, it's just that she was coming on to me and she didn't want to come back to the trailer and then she dumped me and I am really confused right now."

"Call Isis, she's one for handing out bad advice and listening to people complain about their deranged personal lives."

"Gee, thanks Alex. I feel much better now." Bryce said, sarcastically.

"Anytime Bryce, anytime. Now, I'm going to be taking Lara out to see a movie or something and we won't be back until dinner time. So please keep your sexual adventures in the trailer, eh?"

"Right. Sorry."

"See you later, Bryce."

***

Lara smoothed out a winkle over her swollen stomach. She arched her aching back and sighed. _Only two more months._ Lara told herself. _Then I won't feel like a whale anymore. _Lara stood up, carefully and slid into her comfortable shoes. Alex said that he was taking her out later that day for a movie. Which would be a nice distraction from her pregnancy. Even though Alex had been acting a little strange lately. He hated letting Lara out of his sight and practically refused to let her answer the phone.

The phone rang. _Speak of the devil._ Lara thought, she walked over to the nightstand and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"What's your favorite scary movie?" A raspy voice asked.

"_Scream_." Lara hung up the phone then took it off the hook, resting it beside the clock radio. She glanced in the mirror, made sure her hair was in place then walked out of her bedroom.

***

Bryce had just about finished programming Simon to be able to do a compete three hundred and sixty degree turn in under a second when he cellular phone blasted the first few notes of Emma Bunton's _We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight_. Bryce smiled at his new ring tone and hit the 'talk' button on the cell phone.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Bryce? It's Corazon." The voice said.

"Oh, hi." Bryce said, completely forgetting about Simon.

"Look, I wanted to apologize for last night. I mean, I really wanted it to be a nice evening and I didn't really like crawling down a drainpipe. It really ruined the mood. And I didn't mean to dump you either, I was just upset."

"Oh, well, I'm working on Simon right now, do you want to come over for a little while?"

"Really? I'd love to! I've been dying to see how Simon works."

"Great, I'll see you in a little while then." Bryce said.

"Bye-bye." Corazon hung up.

Bryce linked his hands behind his head and smiled.

***

"Bryce, if you and the young lady are finished, I have prepared some sandwiches for lunch." Hillary said, poking his head into Lara's training area where they were testing out Simon's new reflexes.

Bryce looked up. "Oh, sure. Thanks Hillary. We'll be out in a second."

"Very good." Hillary left, gently closing the door behind him.

"Wow, it's so cool that you have a butler." Corazon said, stroking his arm.

"Well, he's not mine, he's Lara's. He gives me more trouble then anything else." Bryce said. "Well, let's go see what he's made."

He took Corazon's hand and lead her into the kitchen. Hillary was wiping down the kitchen counters when Bryce and Corazon entered. Hillary raised an eyebrow at Corazon. She certainly didn't look like a nymphomaniac who had a fetish for making love in other people's beds. She looked quite sweet actually.

"So, you must be Corazon." Hillary said, extending his hand to her.

"Yeah, you must be Hillary." Corazon said, politely shaking his hand.

"Bryce hasn't told me that much about you." Hillary said.

"Oh, we've only been dating for a week." She giggled.

_They're dating for a week and they're already sleeping together?_ Hillary thought. _What is the world coming to? Then again Lara and Alex weren't even dating when she became pregnant. But she had known him for over a year by then._ _All well, it's Bryce's problem, not mine._

Hillary glanced back at the phone. It hadn't rung all morning. He was beginning to get very worried though. If their mystery caller was capable of doing more then make threatening phone calls then this silence only gave them more time.

"So Bryce, you never finishing giving me that tour of the house." Corazon whispered into his ear.

_Cos I was a little busy giving it to you on Lara and Alex's bed. _Bryce thought to himself. "Well, do you want a full tour after lunch? I can show you the assault course and the basement." He said.

"That sounds great." Corazon whispered.

***

"Alex, I want to crawl into a bath and soak for a year." Lara said, touching her sore back.

"Sorry baby, I didn't know the movie was that long." He said, wrapping his arms around her. Alex closed the front door and locked it. He glanced at the grandfather clock which chimed ten at night.

"Hello Lara and Alex. How was the movie?" Hillary asked, taking their coats.

"It's was good." Alex said. "But a little long."

"Way too long." Lara said, stretching.

"Well, dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes, so you can take a short walk. Oh, and Bryce's girlfriend is here. They're in the training room messing around with Simon."

"Bryce's girlfriend? I thought they broke up." Alex said.

"Well, apparently they're back together." Hillary said.

"Did we get any calls?" Alex asked, giving Hillary a you-know-what-I'm-talking-about look.

"No, no calls at all." Hillary said, happily.

"No kidding. I took the phone off the hook." Lara said.

"You did what?" Alex asked.

"Someone prank called me this morning." Lara stated.

"What did they say?"

"They asked me what my favorite scary movie was so I hung up and took the phone off the hook. It was rather silly, I mean, that's the oldest line in the book. Isis even tried that one night. Well, actually she forgot what the line was and ended up asking me "Do you believe in scary movies?". But it's the same thing really."

"Ah. Well, I better get back to the kitchen. I'll call you when dinner is ready." Hillary said.

"Oi, let's go for a walk then." Lara said. "Maybe that will help."

"Sure." Alex said, catching her around the waist and kissing her lips. "God, you're beautiful." He smiled, giving her a longer kiss.

"For someone who looks like a whale." Lara added, kissing him back.

"Oi! Lara!"

Lara and Alex broke their embrace and glanced over to where the voice had come from. Corazon was standing by the training area with her eyes wide and full of excitement. Bryce poked his head out of the sparing room and tried to pull the excited girl back in, but she ignored him and practically ran over to Lara.

"Oh my God! I am such a big fan of yours! I love archeology and you are my idol!" She squealed.

Lara and Alex exchanged worried glances.

"I read all of your books and I even went on a trip to Egypt just so I could see the pyramids you went to! It was so fun! I even have a room with all of your collectable things in it! I kept all the newspaper clippings that you were in and EVERYTHING!"

"Okay Lara, walk away very slowly, don't make any sudden movements or she might attack. . ." Alex whispered to her.

"Do you want to see the website I built for you? It's rated number one on the top one hundred tomb raider sites!" Corazon rambled on happily.

_Oh my God. . . _Bryce thought as he watched his once calm and sophisticated girlfriend morph into a creature resembling a teenybopper at a Backstreet Boys concert. _She's a groupie. . . _Bryce realized.

"This may seem a little odd, but can I have your autograph?" Corazon asked.

"Umm, I suppose." Lara said. She didn't want to be rude to the girl but it was obvious she had way too much spare time on her hands.

***

"That was more exhausting then trying to talk Lara out of tomb raider." Hillary said as he stretched and glanced at the clock. It was nearly one in the morning.

"Bryce, that is the _last_ time you invite one of your girlfriends over here." Lara said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that she was a groupie." Bryce mumbled.

Alex glanced at him. For the past two hours Corazon had showered Lara with her praise and undivided attention. She had completely ignored Bryce and didn't bother to hide the fact that she had basically been using him to met her idol. Although she knew everything about Lara down to what shampoo she uses she was harmless. She didn't want to leave, even after the clock struck twelve-thirty, but Bryce had managed to convince her that Lara needed her rest, being pregnant and all and would have time to chat later.

"God, I have never been so irritated. . ." Lara said, rubbing her temples.

"Bryce, I hope you know that Corazon was not actually dating you because she liked you." Hillary said.

"Yes, I some how got that feeling when she asked for Lara to write out a certificate of authenticity for her autograph." Bryce said.

"It's alright Bryce. You deserve a girl much less annoying." Lara said, mussing his hair. "And one with a personality."

"Yeah, thanks." Bryce said, miserably.

***

Bryce sighed and logged on to the internet. He was too tired to go to sleep and felt too heartbroken to talk to anyone. After thinking that he had finally found a nice, attractive girl who loved technology as much as he did it seemed only natural that she had been using him to gain access to her favorite celebrity.

He looked around the post it notes to see if he had anything to do online after he discovered that he had no new e-mails. He located one that read 'Visit Cor's site' and gave the web address. He sighed and figured that he might as well.

Corazon's website was simple with no frames but tons of content. He clicked on 'News & Updates' to see if she had been working on it lately. The lasted update was an article Corazon had written which was titled 'I Had Sex In Lara Croft's Bed!'. Bryce clicked out of the site and picked the phone. He dialed Corazon's home number and stood there, angrily waiting for her to pick. After six rings her answering machine picked up.

Bryce looked up. "Corazon, this is Bryce. I just wanted to tell you that our relationship is over and I never want to see you again and that you're a total slut and you don't care about anyone but yourself and that Lara thought you were an obnoxious cow and she will shoot you on sight if you come back to the manor. Smooches!" Bryce hung up the phone laughing.


	16. Smoke

Bryce didn't hear the door bell ring. He was walking out to the main hall to take Lara a mug of herbal tea in her room when he saw a black figure crouched by one of the arm chairs. He froze, blinked and saw that the figure was gone. He blinked again and tried to remember what time he had gone to bed the pervious night. Bryce brushed off the sighting of the black figure and began to walk towards the stairs.

The mysterious black figure leapt, grabbing Bryce from behind. He cried out and dropped the tray that contained the mug of tea. The mug crashed to the floor breaking instantly. The next thing Bryce realized, he was staring at the blade of a knife pressing against his throat.

"Where is Lara?" A voice close to Bryce's ear demanded.

"She's not in." Bryce lied. His mind was racing. _What the hell is going on!? _He thought, desperately.

Lara, hearing the mug of tea break, stepped from her room. She glanced over the balcony and caught sight of the person who was holding Bryce with a knife to his throat. She laughed. Bryce froze. _What is wrong with her?! _He demanded. _Some person is attempting to murder me and she's laughing?! _

"Smoke!" Lara said. "Let Bryce go."

Much to Bryce's surprise he felt the figure's hands release him. Smoke shoved Bryce away from her and turned back to Lara who was coming down the stairs.

"Are you alright, Bryce?" Lara asked. Helping Bryce off of the floor. Bryce leaned closer to Lara. 

"Who is in the world is that?" He asked.

"Smoke." Lara said.

Smoke, a young woman in her early twenties, slid her knife back into her boot. She was dressed all in black, complete with a black trench coat and black combat boots. Her dark hair was tied back in a bun, framing her face which bore dark eye make-up, contrasting against her pale skin.

"Lara, who is that?" Smoke asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"This is Bryce." Lara said. "He's my personal computer nerd." Lara laughed. She turned to Bryce. "Don't worry, Smoke is a friend of mine."

"You have got some odd friends, Lara." Bryce muttered, running his hand over the neck, making sure that Lara's friend didn't break the skin with that knife of hers. Bryce glanced back at Smoke.

"Where is Hillary?" She asked Lara.

"He's in the library." Lara responded.

Smoke glanced at Lara's swollen stomach and raised an eyebrow at her. She turned back to Bryce with her regular expression on her face.

"You can leave now." She said, flatly.

"Okay. . ." Bryce just walked off instead of even bothering with the young woman. He did think that she was cute though. . .

"Come on, Smoke. I'll give you a tour of the assault course." Lara said.

"You changed it again?" Smoke asked as and followed Lara out onto the assault course where they could talk in private.

Once the two women were outside Smoke turned to Lara with a serious expression on her face. "I'm not going to lie to you, Lara." She said. "I'm on the run from the American police."

Lara sighed. "What did you do this time?" She asked.

"I assassinated someone and I accidentally got caught on a security camera."

"Tsk, tsk." Lara said. "You're getting careless in your old age."

"So you don't mind if I hide out here for a few weeks?" Smoke asked.

"Of course not." Lara said. "I'll owe you my life." She said sincerely.

Then, Smoke did a very rare thing for her. She smiled. "You've always been my best friend." She murmured, hugging Lara. She pulled back from the embrace and glanced at Lara's stomach. "You never did tell me about your pregnancy. . ." Smoke said.

"Well, I'd have to tell you about my marriage then too." Lara said, showing Smoke her ring.

"You married Alex West?" Smoke asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure that was a wise idea?"

"Of course."

"I heard Alex West was nothing but a superficial playboy who only dated women until he got tired of them." Smoke said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Really? Who told you that?" Smoke whirled around to see Alex standing behind her. He walked over to Lara and gave her a quick kiss before turning back to Smoke. "Honey, who's this?" He asked, glancing at the assassin.

"She's an old friend of mine." Lara said. "Smoke is going to stay with us for a little while."

"Nice to meet you, Smoke." He said, nodding in her direction. "Were your parents hippies or something?"

"Smoke isn't my real name." She said. "If you'll excuse me, I have things to unpack." With that Smoke turned and walked away.

"What a charming young lady. . ." Alex said, sarcastically.

"Smoke isn't much of a conversationalist but she's really a nice person. She just doesn't want anyone to know."

"She's doing one hell of a job of hiding it." Alex said.

"You are getting more insufferable by the day." Lara laughed. "Now hurry, I want to see the new bookcase you and Hillary put into the library."

"I don't see why you couldn't convince Bryce to help too."

"You know Bryce, if it's not online he's not interested." She smirked. "Come along, Mr. West."

***

"Lara, are you sure that letting Smoke stay here is a good idea?" Hillary asked. He had managed to pull Lara away from her and Alex's infernal quest for the perfect name for their baby. Smoke had already retired after running circles around Bryce with her knowledge of DHTML at dinner. Smoke found him interesting to laugh at. Bryce was in love. Hillary secretly wanted to bang his head against the table until the ringing in his ears could block out the non-stop techno babble.

"Hillary, give Smoke a chance." Lara said. "She's a lovely girl, she just can't show that because of her job."

"What do you mean?"

"How would hire an assassin who admits going to see _Titanic _eight times and crying for the third hour every time?"

Hillary thought for a second. "Point taken. Still, did you see the way Bryce was looking at her?"

"Yes." Lara smiled. "Don't you think they make the perfect couple?"

"Come on, Lara. Smoke is probably the rebound from Corazon and when Bryce dumps Smoke I have a feeling that he might end up dead."

"Smoke would never do that. Besides, she's one of my dearest friends. Now, please don't complain about her anymore. Alex has already done that."

"Yes, Lara." Hillary sighed.

***

"Smoke is incredible, isn't she?" Bryce said, leaning back in his chair, linking his hands behind his head.

"She's an assassin _and_ she knows how to bored someone to death with computer talk. I could bearly contain myself." Alex said, sarcastically. The two were sitting in the dining room, talking.

"I wonder if she has a boyfriend." Bryce murmured, starring off into space.

"You are hopeless." Alex said. "First you fall for a total groupie who you screw in my bed and now you're in love with a paid assassin who's on the run from the law."

The phone rang. Both Alex and Bryce looked up but no one moved to answer it. "No one touch it!" Alex yelled through the house.

"Why not?" Lara asked from the hallway.

"I'm avoiding Sam. He's trying to convince me to come back to work!" Alex lied. With a new female in the house the last thing they needed was more phone calls from the mystery caller.

Hillary entered the room, holding a stack of white towels. He set the towels down on the kitchen table and walked over to the stove where a tea kettle was just starting to whistle.        

"Who are the towels for?" Bryce asked, glancing at the stack.

"They're for Smoke. I forgot to replace the towels in the guest room the last time I wash them. I also thought that she might like a cup of tea. Perhaps it would calm her down a bit."

"I'll take it to her." Bryce volunteered.

Alex grinned. "You are a sad, sad man Bryce." He said.

"Come off it, Alex." Bryce chided.

"Yes, maybe attempting to date Smoke will cure Bryce of his obsession with beautiful women." Hillary said. "Well, if Smoke doesn't shoot him first anyways."

"There's something to look forward too." Alex said, nudging Bryce.

"Cynic." Bryce said. He took the mug of tea that Hillary had prepared in one hand and picked up the towels in the other.

"Wish me luck." Bryce smiled.

"Good luck." Hillary and Alex said in unison. 

Bryce walked out of the kitchen, up the stairs and made his way to the guest bedroom. Bryce stood outside the door for several seconds, making sure he was ready. He knocked softly first. When there was no answer Bryce carefully opened the door. He poked his head inside the room. No one was insight.

"Smoke?" He asked as he ventured into the room.

The women in question was laying on the chaise lounge in the corner of the room. She had changed out of her traveling clothes and was in only a flimsy white tank top and gray sweat pants that sat around her hips. Her hair was done up in a bun and her face was make-up less. She looked like a normal girl instead of an intimidating assassin.

"Did you want something?" Smoke asked after Bryce's gaze had traveled over her entire figure.

"Oh, there are some towels. . . that weren't changed, because Hillary forgot." Bryce said, stumbling over his words.

Smoke got up and took the towels from him. "Hmm, thank you." She said.

"Oh and some tea." Bryce said, holding the mug out to her.

"Why did you bring tea?" She asked, taking the mug from him.

"It's was Hillary's idea." Bryce said. "You- you look a lot different without all that black on."

"Different how?" Smoke asked.

"Oh! Good different. You look very good different."

"Thank you. But there is one problem." Smoke said.

"What?"

"I can't seek to get to my satellite uplink from this room. Would you mind if I used yours?"

"No, of course not. Come on, I'll show you my whole computer network."


	17. No Tiffany's Spoken Here

***

Lara glanced at her cards then at an emotionless Smoke, then back at the cards on the table. If she lost this round Lara would owe her friend a very expensive dinner and her favorite pair of boots. Smoke, being the fact that paid assassins don't come cheap, wasn't interested in playing for money when she suggested playing poker with Lara. Lara had agreed to playing for odd items including dinner out and a few assorted articles of clothing. Lara was longing to be able to run her assault course, however, being nearly nine months pregnant and leaping from crates and wading in waist deep water was not encouraged.

"Give up yet, Lara?" Smoke asked, her lips curling into a smile.

Smoke never had a very good poker face. Lara glanced at her cards again. She was screwed. 

Suddenly, the phone rang. Lara leapt. "I'll get it!" She said, happily.

"Hello?" Lara asked as she pressed the receiver to her ear.

"Mrs. West?" A somber female voice asked.

"Yes? Who is this?"

"This is Nicola at Dr. Peter's office. Your husband was admitted about ten minutes ago-"

"What happened?!" Lara blurted out before the girl could finish her sentence.

"Please calm down, Mrs. West. He was in a car accident."

"How is he!?" Her heart was racing. She pressed her hand to her stomach. _Not now! _She thought. _Please not now! Everything was going so well. _

"I'm not. . . completely informed of his condition right now. Um, last report it was still critical." The girl said, unsure.

"I'll be there as fast as I can." Lara slammed down the phone and turned back to a confused Smoke.

"What is it?" Smoke asked.

"Alex is in the hospital. He was in a car crash. He's in critical condition." Lara said. 

"What?!" Smoke demanded.

Suddenly, Lara's face went white. She looked up at her friend. "My water just broke."

***

"Lara?" Alex poked his head inside of the room Lara was laying in. After being in labor for sixteen hours she had finally delivered their daughter and was resting up in one of the private hospital rooms.

"Alex." Lara said. She was exhausted, but relieved to see him. "Are you alright?" She asked.

Alex stepped in, his left wrist was bandaged and there was an ugly purplish bruise on his left temple. He walked over to Lara, kissed her deeply and pulled a chair over to her bedside. He took her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers.

"What happened?" Lara said, gently touching his bruised temple.

"This huge black van rammed into the jeep head on. I got a little banged up. . ." Alex said.

"Is the person in the van alright?" Lara asked.

"I wouldn't know, he took off right after he hit me." Alex grumbled.

"What? I don't understand?"

"Neither do I. I think it was malicious, honey." He said, solemnly.

Lara paused and thought. "Do you know of anyone who might want to hurt you?" 

"That could be a long list." Alex murmured.

"Seriously, Alex." Lara said.

"I can't think of anyone off the top of my head." He admitted. "But there is something that I sort of. . . forgot to tell you. . ."

"What?"

"About a month ago someone started calling the house and threatened us and the baby."

"What?!" Lara's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?! And why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know who it was, the police couldn't do anything about it. I wanted to tell you, but your doctor told me not to stress you out. And, sweetie, I'd rather have you mad at me then him. That guy is just plain scary."

"And I'm not?"

"Well, you can be, but there's one big difference between you and your doctor."

"What's that?"

"I take you to bed on a regular basis." Alex smiled.

Lara kissed his lips. "But what are we going to do about this caller?"

"I don't know. They haven't called for a while. But they threatened the baby. . ." He murmured.

Lara glanced at him. "Over my dead body." She said.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Alex said. "But, actually, I thought about hiring Smoke as a body guard or something." He shrugged. "She's pretty fast on her feet and she knows how to handle a gun. Besides, you've got to get back in shape and we both have the baby to take care of." 

"Oh, have you seen her yet?"

"Yeah, I saw her, but the doctors said that I'd have to wait until tomorrow to hold her."

"Don't worry Alex, she's perfect. And very loud." Lara laughed.

"I think she got that from me." Alex smiled. "Our own little Tiffany Victoria is taking after me already."

"Alex, her birth certificate says Electra Rose." Lara said.

"Damn. Maybe our next daughter will be named Tiffany then." He kissed her forehead. "I love you, baby."

"I love you too, Mr. West." Lara smiled. "And I think hiring Smoke is a brilliant idea. Bryce should like it too."

"Ah, don't remind me." He winced.

***A Few Days Later. . . ***

"Hey Hillary, are you busy?" Bryce asked, entering the kitchen with a small box in his hands.

"I was trying to solve world hunger." Hillary said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, you can take a break then. Look at this." Bryce opened the box and pulled out a smaller much more colorful box. He set it on the kitchen table and carefully lifted the lid. A midi of the song "Take My Breath Away" by Emma Bunton began to play.

"Bryce, that's ingenious. How did you do that?" Hillary asked, for the first time, actually interested in one of Bryce's gadgets.

"Well, I was just going to buy her a music box, but then I thought that I could make one instead. You see, there's a computer chip with full audio capabilities that I can program to play midis inside. The bottom of the box is equip with a light sensor, so whenever anyone opens the lid, it activated the computer chip and it plays the song. Not bad, eh?"

"Are you sure Smoke is going to keep it and not take it apart?" Hillary asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Boys, do you know where Alex is?" Lara asked, entering the kitchen with Electra in her arms. Electra was sleeping soundly against Lara's shoulder.

"He went out to buy some milk, I think." Bryce said. "Do you want to see my music box?"

"Sure."

Bryce played the midi for her. Electra stirred, then, sticking her thumb back in her mouth, she went back to sleep. Lara smiled at Bryce.

"That's lovely." She said.

"It's for Smoke."

"Ah." Lara smiled. "Well, I've got to get this little one to bed. Night, boys."

"Good-night, Lara." Both chorused.


	18. Sour Puss and Grumpy Face

***

"How can you watch this?" Alex asked Smoke and Bryce. The two were curled up together on the couch in the music room watching a DVD of the Black Adder series. He was sitting in the recliner bewildered at the pair.

"What are you talking about, Alex?" Bryce asked. "This is one of the best shows there is."

"The first time I saw the entire series. I thought it was good. The second time, I thought it was a good laugh. The twenty-third time, I wanted to bash my head against a wall." Alex said.

"You'd better be careful, or all the children are going to dance under your window singing 'sour puss and grumpy face'." Bryce said, mimicking Percy from the show.

"That's it. I'm going to find Electra. Maybe have a more intelligent conversation." Alex said as he left the room. Smoke and Bryce shook their heads at him before returning their attention to the television.

Alex wandered into the nursery and found Hillary with Electra in his arms reading to her.

"Hey, Hilly." Alex greeted.

Hillary glanced up.

"Ah, Alex, you can take over now." Hillary said, getting up and handing Electra to her father. "She was starting to doze off around the Greeks." Hillary said, motioning to the novel he was holding, which was a history book of ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean.

"Electra, you should pay attention the Greeks." Alex laughed. "Your mother spends her free time raiding their tombs." Alex cradled his daughter, smiling at her.

"Is Lara taking a nap?" Alex asked, glancing at Hillary.

"She told me that she was taking a very long bath." He said.

"Hmm, I'll take care of the little one till she's done." Alex said. "How about a book more on your reading level?" He asked Electra. Alex walked over to the bookcase in the nursery and picked out _The Cat In The Hat_. "Ah, Dr. Seuss. Best doctor there is." He said, kissing Electra's forehead.

***

Lara tied the white terry cloth bathrobe around her and padded into the hallway. She walked into the nursery and stopped at the door, a smile coming to her lips. Alex was asleep in the rocking chair with Electra dozing in his arms. A stack of Dr. Seuss books sat by the rocking chair.

Smiling, Lara walked into the nursery and gently shook Alex. He stirred and opened his eyes.

"Hi, sweetie." Alex looked around. "What time is it?" He asked.

"Late. Come on, let's put Electra to bed." She murmured, her lips brushing his.

"That was one long bath." He said, yawning as Lara took Electra from him. Lara kissed her forehead and walked over to her daughter's crib. She pulled the soft blankets back and gently placed Electra onto the crib, pulling the blankets over her. Alex wrapped his arm around Lara, peering into the crib.

"She's beautiful." He murmured. "Just like her mother." Alex drew Lara into his arms, kissing her and pressing her against his chest.

"You are turning into a walking Hallmark card." Lara said, playfully poking Alex's stomach, which was rapidly losing it's battle in a comparison to a washboard.

"What can I say?" Alex asked. "Family life is easy to get used to."

"Yes, I'm getting quite adjusted to it as well." Lara admitted.

"Well, let's get to bed so Electra can get us up again." Alex smirked. He pulled Lara into the hall.

"What? Here?" Alex and Lara glanced at the living room, trying to locate the voice. "Bryce, you are so impulsive." Bryce pulled Smoke into the computer area. He smiled at her and kissed her. "Don't tease me." Smoke smiled, kissing him harder.

"Children?" Lara asked, leaning over the balcony. Bryce and Smoke immediately separated, a guilty look coming over their faces. "What are you doing?" Lara asked.

"I was going to show Smoke the new features I built onto Simon." Bryce said innocently, pointing to a limp Simon.

Alex shook his head. "Computer nerds."

"Good night, children." Lara smiled. "And remember to use the surge protector." She said, before pulling Alex into the master bedroom.

Alex laughed. "That was very dirty, Lady West."

"Hmm, kinky computer speak. Dead sexy, huh?" Lara smiled, kissing his nose.

"You have no idea." Alex murmured, pulling Lara down onto the master bedroom.

***

"Alex?" Lara sat up in bed as soon as her eyes opened. She looked around, then shook her husband awake.

"Huh?" Alex lifted his head from the pillows. "What's wrong?"

"Did you hear Electra cry at all last night? I didn't wake up a single time." Lara said. She pulled her robe on over her nightgown and picked up the baby monitor that was sitting on the small end table by the bed. Lara had replaced the batteries the night before and the red light in the corner of the device was still lit.

"Maybe she's started sleeping through the entire night." Alex suggested, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Maybe she's been sneaking out to join a secret society of playwrights." Lara snapped.

"Alright, fine. Let's go and check on her." Alex said. He reluctantly pulled the warm blankets away from him and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. He was pulling his slippers on when Lara left the room, headed for the nursery.

"It's okay, don't wait for me. I'll be there in a second." Alex called after her.

Alex was tying his blue robe around himself when he heard Lara scream.

"Shit!" Alex forgot about the robe and ran down the hall, bursting into the nursery. "Lara!" He shouted. "Lara, what's wrong?!"

Lara pointed to the crib, couldn't speak as she felt like her stomach was lodged in her throat. Alex glanced into crib. It was bare.

"Lara, Alex, is something wrong?" Hillary asked, looking into the room.

"Do you have Electra?" Alex asked.

"Why no, I haven't seen her since last night." Hillary said.

"Bryce and Smoke." Lara murmured. She raced downstairs and burst into Smoke's room without knocking. Smoke and Bryce were nestled together under several quilts. Lara shook Smoke back into consciousness.

"Smoke, wake up. Electra is missing." Lara said.

"Wha, huh?" Smoke blinked, sitting up slowly. "What is going on?" Smoke asked.

"Electra is gone. Do you know where she is?" Lara asked frantically.

"No." Smoke pulled the blankets against herself. "What about Hillary?"

"He doesn't have her either." Lara ran from the room. "Alex! Call Scotland Yard!"

***

"Lara!" Hillary called as he entered the house.

"Do you have news!?" Lara demanded, darting from the kitchen with Alex on her heels.

"Yes, I do." Hillary showed Lara the newspaper that he had found.

ELECTRA WEST KIDNAPPED!

The headline screamed.

"Bloody tabloids." Lara muttered.

"Oh perfect." Alex grumbled.

"What is it now?" Smoke asked, emerging from the kitchen.

"The press has found out about Electra's disappearance." Alex said, holding up the newspaper.

"Just what we need." Smoke said. "Then again, maybe someone saw something or knows something about the kidnapping. It might actually help."

The phone rang. Everyone looked up. Lara stamped over to the phone and picked up the receiver. "What the bloody hell do you want?!" Lara shouted.

"I have your daughter." A raspy voice said.

"What?!" Lara demanded.

"Honey, who is it?" Alex asked, worried that perhaps the threats from their mystery caller had finally been taken out.

"They say that have Electra." Lara said.

"Put Alex on the phone." The voice rasped.

"Listen, you bloody psychopath, if you are going to talk to anyone, then you are going to talk to me!" She shouted.

"Put Alex on the phone if you ever want to see your daughter alive again." The voice said, flatly.

Lara shoved the phone at Alex, then ran into the kitchen and picked up the portable.

"Who is this?" Alex asked in a low voice.

"I have your daughter." Said the voice. "If you want to see her again then you and Lara will attend Lord and Lady Potter's annual charity ball. I will contact you there."

"And just why should we trust you?" Alex demanded. "How do we even know that you have Electra?"

"You're just going to have to trust me." The voice said, innocently. "Besides, she has Lara's pretty eyes. It would be a shame if no one was to ever see them again. . ."

"If you hurt her so help me God I'll-" Alex suddenly realized that he was screaming at the dial tone.

"So, our mystery caller _wasn't_ all talk." Hillary muttered.

Lara set the portable phone down. "What do you mean, Hillary?"

Hillary glanced at Alex, then back at Lara. "Uh, well, I meant. . . ."

"I asked you a question, Hillary." Lara said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Lara, a couple months ago we got some threatening phone calls." Alex sighed. "But you were already very pregnant by then and the doctor told me not to stress you out, so we didn't tell you. Besides, we just thought it was a prank or something."

"You thought it was just a prank?!" Lara shouted. "Well, now our daughter is gone and I _hope_ you have enjoyed this 'prank'!" Lara turned and left without another word. She stormed upstairs and slammed the door to the master bedroom.

"Great. . ." Alex muttered.

"What did the mystery caller say?" Bryce asked.

"He said that Lara and I have to attend Lord and Lady Potter's charity thing then he'll contact us." Alex said. He rubbed his temples.

"I'll go with you." Smoke said. "I can knock off who ever has Electra if you want me too." Alex glanced at the girl. She looked surprisingly wide eyed. After all, she was supposed to be protecting Electra and she had instead spent the night with Bryce. She obviously felt very responsible.

"Let's worry about that when it gets here." Alex said. "Hillary, I want you to find out everything about this charity ball as you can. Bryce, I need you to get all the helpful little gadgets together that you can. Smoke, you work on finding a gun you can hide under an evening gown."

"What are you going to do?" Hillary asked.

"I'm going to talk to Lara." He muttered. His task, however, was no doubt going to be the most difficult. He slowly walked up the stairs and went into the master bedroom. He walked in slowly. He heard soft sobbing as he entered the room. Alex walked in and sat down on the side of the bed where Lara was sobbing into her pillow.

"Baby?" He murmured, laying down beside her and pulling her into his arms. Lara wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing uncontrollably. "It's alright, Lara." He whispered to her. "We'll get Electra back. I promise." He murmured to her. "I promise."


	19. Electra

Lara awoke screaming. She lashed out at an invisible foe, the nightmare replaying in her head. She struggled to battle this figure who had stolen her daughter. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" She howled as the figure began to fight him. "DON'T TOUCH HER!!!!!! ELECTRA!!!!!!!!" 

"Lara!" Lara was snapped back to reality when Alex struck her across the face. Lara collapsed on the bed, struggling to breathe.

"Lara?! Are you alright?! I'm sorry I hit you, what's wrong?" Alex blurted out. He turned on the lights and held Lara against him. Lara gulped in the sweet oxygen and tried to calm herself, refusing to cry.

"Are you okay?" Alex murmured.

"I had a nightmare. . ." Lara replied, taking Alex's hands in hers. "I dreamt about Electra." She choked down a sob. "Electra was a girl, seventeen or eighteen."

"What happened?" Her husband asked.

"There was this man. I couldn't see who he was, but he told Electra that we abandoned her. That we didn't love her. Then she begged him to make love to her and she said that he was the only person who cared about her. Oh God, Alex." She murmured. "She said she wanted to have his children. And then. . . he, he, took her virginity. But he was staring at me. Like he was laughing at me."

"It's okay, Lara. It was just a dream." Alex said, kissing her forehead.

"It seemed so real. It felt like it had already happened." Lara said.

"Don't say that." Alex said, sternly. "Electra is still just a baby and we're going to get her back and that'll be that."

"Alex, I have a bad feeling about this." Lara confessed.

"Maybe it's heartburn." Alex muttered. "Come on, let's go down stairs and find something for that. Some ice cream maybe." He said, thoughtfully.

"Ice cream for heartburn?" Lara asked.

"Okay, okay. I just want some ice cream. . ." Alex admitted. "Come on, we can talk."

***

"Everyone here?" Hillary looked around the dinning room where Lara, Alex, Bryce and Smoke sat, ready to be briefed on the Potter's annual charity ball.

"We're all here, let's get started." Smoke said. She was cleaning one of her guns, her feet propped up on a chair.

"Okay, the Potters are a couple composed of Martin Potter and Natalie Potter, maiden name; Smith. They have two children, Susan and Herald." Hillary said, handing out pictures of each of the family members to the group.

"Herald. . . Harry. Harry Potter." Alex murmured. "He must get teased at school." Alex mused.

"Probably does." Hillary agreed. "At the last charity ball Herald caused quite a stir when he threw water balloons at guests as they departed."

"Can you get to the point?" Lara asked.

"Right, sorry. Anyways, Martin and Natalie own the Potter manor where they hold their annual ball for a charity that is selected randomly. Some people think that they Potters pocket some of the money, but that has yet to be proven. Here is a lay out of the house that Bryce made." Hillary said, setting a large computer print out on the table in front of Lara and Alex. "Everyone needs to pay attention to this." He said, glancing at Bryce who was meddling with a small electronic piece. "Right, the ball is held here." He pointed to four rooms that were highlighted in blue. "The second and third floors are off limits to guests. There is a ball room, a large foyer, a sitting room and a smoking room. The event begins at seven and usually lasts until midnight." Hillary said. "I called this morning and inquired if there was room for three more guests. Mrs. Potter was delighted to hear that the West's will be attending the party." He turned to Smoke. "I couldn't come up with a valid reason for a paid assassin to be at her party, so I informed her that you're Alex's cousin."

Smoke gave him 'the look'.

"I do apologize, miss." Hillary said, politely.

"It's alright." Smoke said. "What's the plan?" She asked, turning to Lara and Alex. Alex shrugged and glanced at Lara.

"Hillary, you act as our chauffer and stay by the car and keep watch there. I also want you to ring the police ahead of time and make sure they are on standby. Bryce, you get into the house and rig the security cameras. Even the ones in the upper rooms. Smoke, Alex and I will spread out, look for anything suspicious and keep in close contact." Lara said.

"That's where I come in." Bryce said. He pulled out a box of small pieces. "Here, I have microphones and ear pieces for all of us. I checked out the Potter's security system this morning, I can hack in any time I want and they won't be the wiser. But we do have one problem." Bryce said.

"What?" Smoke asked, wrapping her arm around Bryce.

"You don't have anything to wear." He smiled.

"That's right." Smoke bit her lower lip.

"I can loan you something." Lara muttered, looking over the lay out for the house. "When is the ball?" She asked, looking up at Hillary.

"Tomorrow night." He said.

He glanced at Lara, she looked exhausted. He wanted to comfort her somehow, but he knew there was little he could do to help her.

"I'm going to train." Lara muttered. She walked away from the group. Alex ran to catch up with her, taking her hand in his. Hillary watched the pair and shook his head. "I don't see why their lives have to be so complicated." He muttered to himself.

"Some people's lives are never easy." Smoke said, cryptically. She nudged Bryce. "Come on." She murmured.


	20. Angel

***

7:00 PM Friday Night

"Alright, Alex and I are in position outside the house." Lara said, talking into her com piece.

"Perfect, I'm set up in a guest room on the second floor." Bryce said. Lara could hear typing over the com system. "Smoke, where are you?"

"In the garden. There are a few couples out here, but no one seems to notice me yet." Came the answer.

"Alright Hillary, drop us off here, I'll see you inside." Lara said into the com piece.

"It's show time." Alex muttered.

***

7:24

"Bryce, check the cameras again." Lara muttered into the com piece.

"Lara, I've checked ninety times." Bryce sighed. "I can't find anything out of the ordinary."

"Look harder." Lara ordered.

"Yes, Lara." Bryce muttered as he obediently went back to checking the multiple security cameras.

"Bryce?"

Bryce whirled around, thinking he had been found. But instead, Smoke crept into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Bryce demanded. "You're supposed to be in the gardens."

"I know, but I got bored." Smoke shrugged. She slinked over to Bryce and slid into his lap, straddling his waist. "God, I want you." She smiled, kissing his lips. "It must be the skirt. I always feel like a slut when I wear a skirt." She murmured.

"Smoke, we can't." Bryce said. "Lara and Alex are counting on us."

"Come on, just a little bit. Lara and Alex won't miss us."

"No." Bryce said, firmly.

Smoke ignored him, kissing him harder and sliding her hand to his crotch. Bryce was helpless. Before he knew what was happening, Smoke pulled him onto the floor and unbuttoned his trousers.

On one of the screens, the mystery caller sipped his drink and smiled as he spotted Lara and Alex.

***

7:26

"Mr. and Mrs. West?" An authoritative voice asked.

Lara and Alex looked up. "Yes?" They asked, in unison.

"Come with me please." A man in a black suit, wearing dark glasses asked.

"Who the hell are you?" Lara snapped, grabbing Alex's arm for support.

"If you want to see your daughter, then follow me." He said. Without any other option the two followed the man into a private room and up a flight of stairs. 

"Bryce, are you getting this?" Alex muttered into his com piece. However, Bryce was getting head at the time and didn't hear Alex's words.

The man stopped in front of a closed door. "Wait here." He instructed. He walked down the empty hall and disappeared from site.

"Bryce!" Lara hissed over her com piece. "Bryce, come in, NOW!"

"Calm down, Lara." Alex said.

"Bryce, pick up the bloody com piece!" Lara shouted.

"Oh, Bryce is a little occupied at the moment."

Lara and Alex both spun around to see a man dressed in an entirely black suit, holding a cocktail.

"Who are you?" Lara snapped.

"That is not important." He answered.

"Hold on, what did you do to Bryce?" Alex asked, gripping Lara's arm to keep her from attacking the man.

"I didn't do anything to Bryce. The assassin I hired to keep him away from the cameras is doing all the work." He answered.

"Smoke?"

"Yes, I do believe you were friends once. It's a shame what money will make a person do, isn't it?" He asked.

"Smoke? Smoke betrayed me." Lara said, shocked that her friend would have turned her back on her so easily.

"Are you here for your daughter or not?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"We're here for our daughter. But who are you?" Alex demanded.

"You can call me John."

"Doe?" Alex asked.

"No. But as I said before, my name is of no consequence."

"Fine, screw your name, where is Electra?" Alex snapped.

"She's in here." John said, motioning to the door in front of them. Lara gripped the gun that was concealed under her skirt, ready to strike if needs be. John opened the door and held it open for Lara and Alex. Both walked in, hands on their guns.

"Angel?" A young woman turned away from a large window that she had been looking at and turned her gaze towards the people who had just entered the room. 'John' walked in front of Lara and Alex, he embraced the girl and kissed her.

"Who are these people?" The young woman asked, turning towards Lara and Alex.

"Your parents, my love. They have come to collect you." He said, a slight smile coming to his lips.

"Electra?" Lara asked, helplessly. 

Electra walked over to her mother, looking her over, noting how much she resembled Lara. She looked directly into Lara's confused eyes, the slapped her across the face.

Lara cried out, mostly from surprise. Alex grabbed Lara's arms, not knowing what else to do.

"Now, now, Electra." Angel laughed. "You shouldn't be so rude to her, just yet."

"That is not our daughter!" Alex shouted. "I don't know what the hell you're trying to pull, but this is total bullshit!"

"Really? And why **can't** I be your daughter?" Electra demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"First of all, our daughter is only a few months old." Alex snapped.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong." Angel said, interjecting before Alex could continue. "You see, Lara. There was more then one of those nifty little time travel triangles. This one is much better, since I have been able to bring Electra's future self into the present." He held his arm out, Electra taking it and kissing his cheek. "She is quite beautiful, isn't she?" He asked, Electra blushed and smiled.

"What did you bring us here for?" Lara demanded. "To wave this around in our faces? Or were you going to screw her in front of us?"

"Ah, so you did have those dreams." He smiled. "I just wanted you to see what your little girl has been doing while she's been away." Electra snickered.

Alex glanced at Lara. _How the hell are we going to get out of this one? _He thought.


	21. Betrayed

"So," Angle glanced at Lara and Alex. "Now that we have all the cards on the table, let's not beat about the bush."

"Certainly. . . I'd much rather beat you." Lara said, narrowing her eyes.

"Don't say that about my husband, you bitch!" Electra shouted.

"Calm yourself, Electra." Angel instructed. "You can only expect such behavior from a woman like her. Why don't you go to sleep and I shall join you soon."

"Do I have to?" Electra whined. "I want to stay up."

"No, my love. You need your rest. I shall tell you about everything in the morning." He smiled, running the back of his hand down the side of Electra's face. He kissed her lips. Electra giggled and left the room, quietly.

"Electra, wait." Lara said, she moved to follow her daughter, but Alex held her back.

"Don't go after her yet, Lara. We have to find out what's going on here." Alex murmured into her ear.

"Your husband is quite intelligent." Angel said, walking over to a table that held a champagne glass and an uncorked bottle. "Must be where Electra gets it from." He poured the alcohol into the glass and took a small sip.

"Get to the point." Lara bit out. "What do you want in exchange for our daughter?" She demanded.

"Oh, I don't want to get to the point yet. I have to tell you about my ingenious plan first."

"We're not interested in your fucking 'ingenious plans'." Lara snapped. "What do you want for our daughter?!"

"Well, fine then, I won't tell you my ingenious plan. Your loss." Angel took another sip from the champagne glass.

"We're not getting any younger, you know." Alex said, beginning to lose his patience.

"Alright, fine. In exchange for Electra, your beautiful daughter, I-"

"Hold on." Lara said.

"Lara, he's just about tell us what he wants, let the man speak." Alex hissed.

"Hold on." Lara told him. She turned back to Angel. "Listen, if we do any sort of negotiating, than I want one thing perfectly clear. We will do everything in our power to give you what you want in exchange for her, but we want the five month old Electra. Not this impulsive slut that you've created."

"Fine. Deal." Angel said, offended that the girl's own mother referred to his bride as a slut.

"Now, continue." Lara told him.

"Well, as I was saying, in exchange for Electra, your lovely daughter, I want you, Lara Croft." He said, staring directly at Lara.

"What do you mean?" Lara demanded.

"It's quite simple, really. I want you to divorce this. . . person," he finished, waving the glass at Alex, "marry me and live with me for all eternity."

"Why do you want me?" Lara asked.

"Don't play modest with me." Angel scoffed. "Every man who has ever come into contact with you has wanted you. You are intelligent, athletic, elegant and shockingly beautiful. Why wouldn't I want you to be my wife?"

"But you don't even know me." Lara objected.

"I don't need to. Your beauty is enough for me to be satisfied. Now, which will it be? Yourself or your daughter?"

"That doesn't make any sense." Lara snapped. "Why would I give myself to you, if I'm never going to see my daughter again?"

"Don't be silly, Lara. I would let you see your daughter. Alex would be her primary care taker, but I would allow you to visit her. Beside, you wouldn't take away your own daughter's future, would you?" Angel asked, innocently.

"Hold on a second, we need to talk about this." Alex pulled Lara into a corner of the room, made sure that Angel was out of ear shot and turned back to Lara. "What are we going to do?" He demanded. "We can't let him keep Electra, but there's no way that he's taking you."

"We don't have much choice, do we?" Lara asked.

"But Lara, you're my wife and I'm not giving you up without a fight."

"If you kill him then we have no way of getting our old Electra back and we'll be stuck with the bitch that he created."

"Or I could just beat him into submission." Alex shrugged.

"No, I have an idea." Lara assured him. "I'm going to go with Angel."

"Lara, no. I'm not going to let you." Alex said, sternly.

"This is the only way. I need you to look after Electra. I can't sacrifice her future for my happiness. I'm going, Alex."

"Lara, don't do it." Alex reached out for Lara's arm, but she moved away from him and walked over to Angel.

"We've decided. I will wed you in exchange for our infant daughter." Lara said.

"Excellent." Angel smiled. "This is going perfectly."

"Lara, snap out of it." Alex grabbed Lara's arm and forced her to face him. "I'm not letting you go, I've already lost you once, I'm not going through that again."

"Alex, kindly take your hands off of my fiancée." Angel said, nonchalantly, sipping his drink.

"Go to hell!" Alex snapped.

"Alex. . ." Lara looked him in the eyes. "It's alright." She winked at him.

Lara removed her arm from Alex's grasp and walked over to Angel.

"Ah yes, we will be quite happy together." Angel smiled. He took the wedding band from Lara's finger and retrieved a small black velvet box from his jacket pocket. He carelessly tossed the wedding ring over his shoulder. Alex swore and ran after the ring. He slid the jewelry into his pocket as Angel slid his wedding band onto Lara's finger. "Perfect fit." He murmured.

"What now?" Lara asked, pretending to admire the ring.

"Well, you must gather your things and I shall get Electra ready. Since it is getting late, why don't you stay overnight at the Croft Manor? I will collect you and drop off Electra in the morning." He smiled. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, I believe we do." Lara said. Before she realized what was going on, Angel took her in his arms and gave her a long, sloppy kiss. Alex looked up and ran at Angel, tackling him to the ground with an outraged cry.

"Alex! Alex, stop!" Lara pulled her husband from Angel, forcing him to the other side of the room. Angel sat up, glaring at Alex.

"Lara, please control your husband." Angel snapped.

"I apologize." She said, glaring at Alex. "We must be going. I have a lot of packing to do."

"Yes, until tomorrow then, my love." Angel smiled.

***

"I don't believe you! I don't fucking believe you!" Alex shouted.

"Lara, I'm retiring, good-night." Hillary said, quickly retreating from the uncomfortable scene.

"Alex, calm down." Lara said. She took off her earrings and stepped out of her shoes.

"Calm down?! _Calm down_!?!?! How the hell can I calm down, when my wife is going to marry some asshole?! What the hell were you thinking?!" Alex raged.

"I'm going to slap you, if you don't lower your voice." Lara told him.

"Go ahead, because I have a good mind to slap you back! Maybe knock some sense into you!"

"Alex, would you at least let me explain?" Lara asked, still remarkably calm. 

"What is there to explain?! My wife is going to divorce me and spend the rest of her life with a greedy prat, while I am going to have to raise our daughter by myself and I'm going to have one hell of a time explaining what happened to her mother!!!!"

Lara changed her mind. Instead of simply slapping him, she punched him. Hard.

"Ow! God damnit, Lara!" Alex swore.

Suddenly, the door to the Croft manor opened and Bryce and Smoke walked in, hand in hand. Forgetting about her fight with Alex, Lara turned to them and remembered what Angel had said.

"Smoke, would you come here please?" Lara asked, sweetly.

"Sure. Is something wrong? I heard that you didn't get Electra." She said, giving her coat and purse to Bryce. She walked over to Lara.

"You were working for Angel." Lara said, narrowing her eyes.

"What?" Smoke asked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't deny it. Angel told me all about the plan. You were put in place to distract Bryce while Angel spoke with us. And look, you did."

"Lara, it's not what you think, really." Smoke said, desperately.

"You loved money so much that you would betray your closest friend?"

"I didn't mean to. Angel has. . . Angel is. . ." Smoke stopped, her eyes sinking to the floor.

"Angel, what?"

"He's my brother." Smoke murmured.

"Your brother?" Alex demanded.

"Yes." Smoke admitted.

"You never told me that you had a brother." Lara said.

"He's my half brother really. But I didn't know what his whole plan was, he just wanted me to distract Bryce at the party."

"You knew that he kidnapped Electra, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Smoke?" Bryce stepped forward, a look of disbelief on his face. "You used me. You used me and you betrayed Lara."

"I'm sorry Bryce, I'm so sorry. But he's my family." Smoke pleaded.

"And these people are _my_ family!" Bryce shouted, gesturing to Lara and Alex. "How could you?"

"I'm sorry."

"That isn't helping. You knew what Angel was doing, you didn't stop him and then you helped to carry out his plan!" Bryce said.

"I didn't know what he was doing, honestly, I didn't."

"If there's one thing that you're not, it's honest." Bryce said, coldly.

There was silence. Smoke's gray eyes pleaded helplessly with Bryce. Finally, he turned away from her and walked out of the house to his trailer.

"Lara, I'm sorry, please." Smoke gripped Lara's hand.

"Smoke, leave now and I won't turn you in to the authorities that you're running from." Lara said.

"But Lara, I'm sorry-"

"And so am I. Good-bye, Smoke."

Lara took Alex's arm and lead him upstairs to their bedroom. Smoke looked around the empty house. She wrapped her arms around herself and softly, began to cry.

***

"Well, that was a little harsh." Alex said. "And it doesn't solve our problem."

"Alex, she plotted against us." Lara reminded him, taking the pins from her hair and using a soapy cloth to remove her make-up.

"I know, I know." Alex sighed. "And what are we going to do now? We're down one assassin and you are still going through with this fucked up plan."

"Listen Alex, you heard what Angel said. He only wants me to marry him because he thinks I'm beautiful."

"You are beautiful." Alex muttered.

"But still, he has only seen me out in public and at dinner parties. He knows nothing of my private life. Suppose I wasn't so lady like at home. Hmm?"

"I don't follow."

"Think about it, Alex. I could annoy the hell out of him. And if I do, then he would probably send me back to live with you and Electra."

"Why don't I think that that plan will work?"

"Would you put up with someone who drove you insane?"

"I dated Champagne, didn't I?"

"Well, you didn't marry her. Besides, I could tell Angel that I want a huge formal wedding and a very long engagement and if I'm obnoxious enough then Angel will decide not to go through with the actual wedding."

"It's not going to work." Alex frowned.

"Unzip me, please." Lara said, holding her hair off the back of her neck so Alex could unzip her dress. "Besides, what other options do we have?"

"Not a lot. . ." Alex admitted.

Lara stepped out of her dress and hung it back onto the hanger in front of her wardrobe.

"So just trust me, Alex." Lara said, facing her husband.

"Lara. . ." Alex sighed. "I don't want to lose you." He murmured, wrapping his arms around Lara.

"You won't." She assured him, kissing his lips. "You never will."


	22. The Dinner

Finally, an update! And this story is almost a year old! Wow.

Anywho, you know the links: 

My homepage: http://mine.at/thelair or http://mine.at/mblow0t5

Meek-Haiygn Press: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Meek-HaiygnPress/

And on with the story!

"Lara, it's wonderful to hear from you!" Hillary said, brightly as soon as the caller had identified herself. "How are you?"

"Miserable." Lara muttered. She nervously stood and began to pace back and forth on the expensive Persian rug that lay on the bedroom's floor.

"I'm sorry, dear." Hillary said, his voice no longer containing any excitement. "Is your plan working?" He asked, hopefully.

"Not yet." Lara said, biting her lower lip. "I'm trying to be as horrible as I possibly can, but none of it seems to have an effect on Angel." She confessed. "I even sent my dinner back four times tonight, claiming that the cook hadn't prepared it properly. Angel didn't even raise an eyebrow."

Hillary sighed. "I know you're trying your best, but I'd advise you to hurry. Alex has been moody and irritable ever since you left. He's barely gotten out of bed all week and he hasn't paid any attention to Electra."

"I've felt the same way." Lara muttered. "God, I miss him. I miss everyone, especially Electra."

"Hold on a second, Alex is up. I'll see if I can get him on the phone."

"Good, thank you, Hillary."

There was a long pause and then a sleepy voice picked up.

"Yeah?"

"Alex?" Lara asked, nervously twirling the phone cord around her index finger.

"What?" He asked, coldly.

"Alex, how are you? How's Electra? Is everything alright?" She asked, exasperated.

"Oh yeah, sure. . . Everything's just peachy. Thanks for asking." He muttered, sarcastically.

"Please be serious, Alex."

"I am serious!" He retorted. 

"Please, Alex, don't shout."

"Why not?" He snapped.

"I know this is hard on you, it hasn't exactly been a picnic for me either. But we need to stick together right now."

"Yeah sure. . ."

"Alex, please, everything will work out in the end." Lara said, trying to sound positive.

"Work out? How the hell is this mess going to _work out? I just got an annulment from my wife, she's marrying some asshole, I've got a daughter to raise on my own and you haven't even bothered to call me in an entire month! __Everything is fucked up and it's all because of you!!!" The tomb raider shouted._

Lara slammed the phone down. She covered her mouth with her hands as tears began to well in her eyes. She swore and curled up on her large canopy bed in the middle of the bedroom Angel had provided for her. A very expensive cream colored wedding dress hung on her wardrobe closet. She glared at the dress in anger, then continued to sob uncontrollably.

***

"Lara? Have you been crying, darling?" Angel asked, extending his hand to cover Lara's in a gentle manner.

"No, I'm fine." Lara lied. "I just got something in my eyes a little earlier." Both eyes were completely bloodshot from all of her crying and her lip kept suspiciously quivering. She had tried to fake sick with a stomach lurgy but Angel didn't believe her. Tonight was the night that she was supposed to met his parents and nothing was going to get her out of that, Angel had informed her. So there she was, seated at a expensive and elegant table in an equally elegant dinning room, wearing a one thousand dollar dress with blood shot eyes and runny mascara.

Angel began to tenderly massage the palm of her hand.

"You must be nervous." He murmured. "Don't worry, my parents will love you. You're everything they ever wanted for me."

"I'm thrilled." She stated, sarcastically.

"You should be." Angel said, his grip on her hand turning hard and possessive.

When Angel's parents entered the room, Lara was not surprised by their appearance. His mother looked a great deal like Joan Collins, and like Joan, still remained attractive even though she was older. Angel's father was smartly dressed in a business suit. He had a bushy mustache and was holding a cigar in his hand.

"Hello son," Angel's father said, greeting him rather warmly with a handshake and a hug.

"Angel, darling, you get more handsome every time I see you." His mother cooed, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"It's wonderful to see you both." Angel beamed. "And now I would like to introduce you to my fiancée, Lara Croft." He said, making a grand guesture to the uninterested woman who sat at the dinning room table.

"Hi." Lara said in a deadpan voice, waving to the pair.

"Oh, um, hello, dear." Angel's mother began. "Very nice to meet you."

"Uh, yeah." Lara said.

Angel glared at her. "Well, why don't you both have a seat, dinner should be out in a few minutes."

"Excellent, than we can get to know this lovely creature that you've captured." Angel's father said, sitting down next to Lara.

"What an excellent idea." His mother said, sitting down next to Angel. "You know I've always been very protective of my little Angel, I don't want him marrying just anyone." She said, smiling at her son.

"Naturally. Our Angel is a very special man." His father added.

Lara choked on her own saliva and began coughing. She sheepishly took a sip from her glass of wine as her future mother-in-law raised an eyebrow at her.

"So, anyways," Angel said, sliding his hand underneath the table and pinching Lara's thigh. "How has the business been going, dad?" Lara slapped his hand away.

Angel's father was about to open his mouth when his mother spoke up. "Now, now, none of that business talk. I didn't come here to be bored to death." She laughed. She turned to Lara. "Tell us about yourself, dear."

"Well," Lara said, clearing her throat. "I just recently got an annulment, I have a daughter named Electra, my ex-husband is _very, very_ disgruntled and I absolutely _love_ having sex in the shower."

There was a shocked silence.

"Uh, well, umm. . . ." Angel's mother trailed off.

"Anything else you might want to know?" Lara asked, sweetly.

Angel's father chuckled. "I like a girl who isn't afraid to speak her mind." He said. "It's very refreshing. None of that aristocratic bullshit."

"Bullshit?!" Lara exploded, leaping up and knocking her chair over in the process. "My father was a part of the aristocracy, are you trying to say that he was full of bullshit?!" She demanded.

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant!" He said, quickly.

Lara made a frustrated sound. "I can't stand this anymore!" She declared. "I'll be in my room!" She stormed out of the room, slamming the great oak doors to the dinning room on her way out.

***

Five days later. . . .

"Hillary, I'm coming home." Lara said. She held the cordless phone between her ear and her shoulder as she continued to shove her clothing back into her massive black trunk.

"Coming home? The engagement with Angel is off?" Hillary asked in disbelief.

"Yes, it is." She said, happily.

"How did you do it?" Hillary laughed.

"Well, Angel wasn't too happy with me after I was rude to his parents. His mother refused to give us her blessing. But what finally got him to drop me was when he came into my bathroom while I was showering to "surprise me". I claimed to think that he was an intruder and I broke two of his ribs, his nose, his right arm, gave him a concussion and tore out some of his hair. He had to be taken to the hospital. A few hours after he came to, he told me that the engagement was off. So, I'm coming home. Oh, I feel so great!" Lara said. "I can't wait until I'm home."

"Neither can I, Lara, neither can I." Hillary said.

"Well, I should be back early tomorrow morning. I'll see you then." She said, then hung up the phone.

***

"Alex, Hillary, Bryce! I'm home!" Lara called as she entered the house. She felt like a little girl, waiting for everyone to jump up and shout; 'surprise', like at one of her birthday parties.

"Lara?" Hillary poked his head over the banister. He looked flustered and nervous.

"Hello!" Lara greeted. "Where is everyone?" She asked, looking around. She dragged her black trunk into the house and closed the door behind herself.

"Well, um, we weren't expecting you back for a while yet, uh, why don't you go into the kitchen and I'll make you some tea. Then we can have a nice talk." Hillary said, coming down the stairs.

"Is something wrong?" Lara asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"No, no, of course not. Why would anything be wrong?" He asked, laughing nervously.

"Where's Alex?" Lara asked.

"He's not yet up. But he was up _very, very_ late last night. Why don't you just let him sleep?"

"I'm too excited, I want to see him." Lara said, making her way to the stairs.

"No, no! You can't!" Hillary said, stopping Lara from stepping onto the first step.

"Why not?" Lara asked.

"Because, he's, he's sick! Oh yes, he's very sick. He needs his rest."

"Hm, well, maybe I can microwave him some soup or something." Lara shrugged. "Either way, I'm going to see him." She walked past Hillary.

"Lara!" Hillary called out, desperately.

"What?" Lara asked, turning to look at him.

"Don't, please."

"What is going on?" Lara demanded.

Hillary made a helpless sound, but couldn't manage to say anything. Lara plodded up the stairs and walked into the master bedroom, not sure what the expect but completely unprepared for what was there. The bedroom was a mess. Empty beer cans, used condoms and fast food wrappers littered the floor. But then Lara caught sight of the bed.

Alex was curled up beside another sleeping figure. In horror, Lara came closer and realized that she was staring at a sleeping Champagne.


	23. What Else Can Go Wrong?

_This must be what it's like when you're suicidal._ Lara thought from her position on the large four poster bed in the guest bedroom. She snuggled further into the duvet and tried to block out that thought. She tried to block out all of her thoughts. Her thoughts had stopped being coherent at this point and had blurred into one miserable mess that she felt that she could never escape from. Lara wiped the tears from her face and closed her burning, bloodshot eyes.

Lara's first reaction to her discovery of Alex's infidelity was pure unbridled rage. The Tomb Raider had managed to shock even herself when she acted on the searing anger that raced through her brain. She had dragged Alex out of bed and struck him with an inhuman power that stemmed from her fury. Alex was dazed for several seconds before recoiling with a blow of his own. Lara had stumbled back, shocked by the slap and the look in his eyes. Then the battle of words began to rage. After shouting and screaming for over eight minutes, Lara had left, finding a safe haven in the guest bedroom down the hall from the master bedroom. 

There she had sobbed uncontrollably, then tried unsuccessfully to gather her thoughts and form them into some logical thought process. Now that she had given up and tried to block out everything from her consciousness. Convincing herself that Alex didn't exist, Champagne didn't exist and perhaps even _she_ didn't exist. That she was just a piece of matter, as tiny as an atom, floating to space with no front or back, let alone a right or wrong. Her world turned into an endless plane of gray. 

The sound of Electra's crying brought Lara out of her gray world. Lara pulled the duvet down to her shoulders and glanced towards the nursery, which was next to the guest bedroom.

"Electra. . ." She whispered. Lara sat up. She knew that simply laying down and dying was not an option. She had a daughter to think about now. Even if she didn't want to live for herself, she had to live for the tiny creature in the next room. 

Lara padded out into the hall and walked back into the nursery. She peered into her daughter's crib, then gathered the child in her arms and began to gently rock her. Electra eventually quieted and drifted back to sleep. Deep in thought, Lara sank into the antique rocking chair in the corner of the room.__

"I have to leave Alex." Lara murmured, fresh tears forming in her eyes.

Although Alex had been an excellent father before Electra's kidnapping, Lara didn't believe that he was capable of returning to the man that he had been. What bothered Lara the most was the look in Alex's eyes when he struck her. She felt as if she was staring right at evil itself. Lara shook her head. She was furious with Alex, but she knew that he wasn't evil. He _was_ unstable, emotionally immature, unfaithful and unsympathetic. 

Lara thought back to when she married him. She had stayed up the night before wondering if she was making the right choice. Her history of fighting with Alex was much longer than her history of loving him. There were so many things about him that Lara couldn't stand. But yet, his heart always seemed to be in the right place, even if the rest of him wasn't. That was what Lara loved about him. He did the right thing not because he knew that he should, but simply as a reflex. It seemed to be his natural reaction

The Tomb Raider gently stroked her daughter's cheek, then replaced Electra in her crib. She pulled the blankets over her and quietly left the room. Lara walked to her study and gently shut the door after her. Once she had settled in her black, leather office chair, she picked up the phone and dialed her lawyer.

"Hensington, I'd like to file for divorce." She murmured.

*

"What the hell is this?" Alex demanded, bursting into Lara's bedroom. Lara looked up from her novel at her estranged husband, who stood rigidly, holding a bunch of papers that were stapled together. Electra, who had been laying quietly in Lara's arms, began to stir.

"Keep your voice down." Lara murmured, as she gently stroked Electra's wisp of light brown hair.

"I asked you a question, Goddamn it." Alex sneered, throwing the papers into Lara's face.

Electra gave out a hearty wail and began to sob.

"Get out of here, Alex." Lara said in a low voice. Although Electra was bawling at the top of her lungs, Alex still heard her perfectly.

"No." He told her. Anger seemed to radiate from his frame. Lara had never seen him so furious before, save for when he had slapped her. "No. I'm not leaving until we talk."

"Talk?" Lara asked, sardonically. "We have nothing to talk about." She assured him. She walked out of her bedroom, brushing past Alex and headed downstairs. She went into the kitchen and took a bottle of milk from the refrigerator and settled down at the kitchen table to feed her daughter. Alex stood in the doorway of the kitchen for several minutes, simply watching the two.

"Look, Lara. I know you're upset, but doing you think that this is a little extreme?" He finally stated.

"Extreme?" Lara repeated. "At this point, the only thing I would consider extreme would shooting both you and mistress and burying your bodies in the garden for fertilizer."

"Ha ha, very funny, Lara."

She looked up at him. "I wasn't joking." She said, quietly.

Alex walked over to her and tried to place his hand on her shoulder. Lara shook him off.

"Don't touch me." She muttered.

"Lara, this is stupid, don't do this." Alex said in a defeated tone as he sat down in the chair beside hers. "I still love you."

"Oh yes and I bet you were telling that to yourself while you were sleeping with Champagne, in _our bed. No, Alex. I'm not believing you anymore. You betrayed me and turned your back on your family. I refused to be with a man whom I don't trust." Lara rose. "Now, as clearly stated in the papers, you have thirty days to remove your belongings from my home."_

"Hold on. There was one thing this contract didn't mention."

"What was that?"

"Electra."

"She'll be living with me. You'll have visitation rights, naturally, but those papers haven't been drawn up yet. Now if you don't mind, I have some things to attend to. Good afternoon, Mr. West." Lara said curtly before leaving the room.

Alex swore and slammed the papers down on the table top.

*

Alex's cell phone rang. Half dazed and terribly hung over, Alex searched for his phone amid a pile of dirty clothes, assorted take away boxes, empty beer cans and crumpled pages of "research" from the Internet. Finally locating his cell phone, Alex answered it and sprawled back against the couch, staring at the ceiling while he tried to remember what day it was.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Alex? Sweetie? Why have you called me?"

"Huh? Who is this?" Alex demanded, no recognizing the tone.

"It's Champagne." Came the sharp reply.

Alex cursed himself, then thumped his head against the couch. "I told you, it's over."

"It doesn't have to be. I mean, I'm willing to forgive you after you used me to piss off your wife. Now that she's out of the picture, we're free to be together again."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Alex practically shouted, sitting up. "It was a mistake. I don't want to be with you, I never wanted to be with you, actually. I just thought that you had nice tits. Now would you leave me alone?"

"Oh, don't be like that. I know you're upset about the divorce and having to sleep on Sam's couch and your ex being all bitchy and stuff, but come on. We can still have a little fun."

Alex opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it and promptly ended the call. He should have figured out by now that Champagne didn't take no for an answer. Alex turned his cell phone off and laid back against the couch again. He sighed deeply and ran his hands through his unwashed hair.

It had been a month since Lara and Alex had separated. While Lara was adjusting to her new lifestyle of being a single mother, Alex's lifestyle had taken a turn for the worst. When he was with Lara, Alex had all but stopped drinking, he gave up smoking and had been living the same healthy life that his wife was. Now, without her, Alex had been living off of fast food, drinking himself to sleep every night and smoking at least a pack of cigarettes a day. Exercise was totally out of the question and now, Alex's days revolved around what shows were on television.

He had all but given up hope. Sam continued to bug him about getting a job and his own apartment, but Alex had no motivation and was seemingly content with his present situation, sleeping on Sam's couch. The final blow to Alex's moral was when he lost visitation rights to Electra when he showed up to the courthouse so drunk that he could barely stand. He was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct and had to spend several hours in prison until Sam could bail him out. He never did see Electra or Lara.

Now with the scandal all over the tabloids Alex found himself with few friends and no tomb raiding opportunities. Not that he wanted to work. Although with his bank accounts frozen while the divorce was being finalized, he had to admit to even himself that he needed the money.

Alex's cell phone rang again. He picked it up and looked at the LCD display. It was Champagne.

"Shit." He muttered, was there anything else that could go wrong?


End file.
